Let's Do More Teaching

A ThinkAdvisor writer recently wrote about promoting insurance literacy by getting school children to run in-school insurance funds. I think she is right on the money. In fact, teaching our children all about money, including insurance, over the course of their elementary, middle school and high school education is very likely the key to the solution.

Other than when you had to pay for things at the store and when you paid for the work you did, just how often did you learn about money when you were in high school? I would hazard to bet, not all that often, right? In fact, except, possibly, when they are paying taxes and bills, a lot of adults don't get that much more of a chance to learn about money, either. Perhaps you have noticed that too?

Let's face it: People out there could use some help, right? If we as an industry don't step up, the general public will eat up whatever the so-called "gurus" will sell them. What we need is organizations such as the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting, the American Council of Life Insurers, and the rest of our wonderful financial professional associations to get together and create a curriculum for our schools. It is also a safe bet that many of our companies in our industry would happily lend a hand. Then work with our schools and these curriculums. Then, in about 20 years, we would start having financially literate people entering adulthood. Gee, what a cool idea!

(Related: These 4 Behaviors Lead to Financial Confidence)

Yes, I know, but what about right now? In the meantime, we need to form a grassroots effort to reach out to our schools and our communities and offer our help. People need to become more financially literate and then maybe it will even become fashionable for the public to become responsible for their financial health. We have access to the tools right now.

For example, every so often I get invited to go into a school, mostly middle schools or high schools and talk about money. What it is and what it does. As an aid, I use reports from Advysis. Some of you know Advysis for its Back Room Technician library. They have a plethora of reports on a whole host of subjects such as what an annuity is, how a mortgage works" or "The Rule of 72." They have all sort s of reports on how life insurance works and why people should have it. I spoke to a seventh-grade class and gave the students all a series of reports from Advysis, and the students brought the reports home.

Some parents actually called me and thanked me, not only for what their sons or daughters learned, but also for what they themselves had learned from reading what their children had brought home.

I'm also the benefits resource for a professional association. I did a workshop at their annual meeting. I simply did a "Q & A." I let the attendees ask me anything about insurance or money that was on their mind. The session was only supposed to last for an hour, but it lasted for two. What if you had events in your office like that a few times per year?

The point is that people young and old have a ton of questions about a lot of things when it comes to money, and they also feel as if they don't have anywhere to go and ask the questions. Maybe it's about time we worked on fixing that.

— Read 10 Smartest States for Financial Literacy: 2017 on ThinkAdvisor.