FDIC COME‐In

April 24, 2014

Louisa M. Quittman, Director, Financial Education

US Department of the Treasury

Louisa.Quittman@Treasury.gov

Financial Education for Yout

Updates from the US Department o

Treasury
Eau Claire, Wisconsin

• 2011‐2012• 2012‐2013Amarillo, Texas• 2012‐2013

Study aims to better understand how to provide 

with the financial skills to become economically 
Research Questions

Financial education No financial education

Credit union or bank in school

Credit union or bank in school +Financial education

Credit union or bank in sfinancial education

No credit union or bank in school

No credit union or bank in school +Financial education

No credit union or bank financial education

• Do students gain financial knowledge and understanding by

participating in a financial education curriculum?

• Do students gain more financial knowledge when they also 

school with a credit union or bank branch?

• Are students more likely to open a savings account and/or 

deposits if they are participating in a financial education cu

• Do students have more positive attitudes toward savings an

institutions if they have access to a school branch?
Financial Education

• 5 or 6 lessons from Financial Fitness for 

curriculum over 5‐6 weeks

• 45‐minute lessons taught by classroom

teachers

– Teachers trained for 3 to 8 hours on curriculum and materia

• Content focused on savings account use

– Defining income, expenses and savings

– Wants vs. needs, incentives and goals

– Compare savings options and understanding interest
In‐School Banking

• Eau Claire – Royal Credit Union School $ense

• Amarillo ‐ Happy State Bank Kids’ Banks

Largely similar, but features specific to HSB:

– Account Type: Joint ownership savings account

(also opened minor only account for the pilot)

– Account Opening: On‐line, at a branch, or at

school

– Frequency: once a week during study period)

– Bank Transactions: Kids can only make deposits

at school branch. (RCU‐ could also make small

withdrawals)

– Student Staffing: Student tellers work with HSB

staff (RCU used student tellers)
Data

Knowledge

• Financial Quiz Score: The number of questions answered correctly

Attitudes

• Spend Money Immediately: 5‐point scale how often they find it hard to 

spending money immediately.

• Easy to Save: 5‐point scale how often they find it easy to save money.

• Saving is for Adults: 5‐point scale how often they feel that saving mone

adults.

• Banks/Credit Unions Useful to You: 5‐point scale the degree to which t

that banks /credit unions offer services that are useful to them.

Account Activity

• Account Ownership: Students report whether or not they have a saving

their own name

• Net Deposits: Total amount of money that is deposited into the accoun

total taken out of the account.

• Active Account Use: Number of distinct occasions on which money is d

withdrawn from the account.
Sample Knowledge Questi

1. Scott plans to save the same amount of money each week for 10 weeks t

mom a $30 necklace. How much money should Scott save each week?

– $1– $2– $3– $4– don’t know or not sure

2. The best example of a long‐term goal would be saving for a...

– video game

– birthday present

– college education– pair of basketball shoes

– don’t know or not sure

3. Sara Wilson earns an income of $3,000 per month as an elementary scho

She has expenses of $2,000 each month. The amount she has left over ea

is called...

– ...profit– ...credit– ...saving– ...budget– ...don’t know or not sure
Sample Size & Results

Overall Results

– Large effects of education on knowledge questions

– Moderate effects of in‐school banking and education on a– Education and bank access boost bank account ownership – Effects persist

Sample Size Eau Claire Amarillo 

No Financial Education 320 285 Financial Education 380 418 Total 700 703 
Key Findings

• Education – relatively brief– has impact on kno

• And it lasts at least from 4th to 5th grade

• Being banked intensifies the effect

• Banked students are likely different...but banks in scho

incentives facilitate account ownership

• Attitudes about financial institutions strongly

influenced

• By education and even just having a branch in school

• Account use proved hard to measure stably
Persistence of Treatment Effe

0.700.800.901.001.101.201.301.401.50

Baseline First Follow‐up Second Follow‐up

Outcomes for the Treatment Group

Quiz Score (13pt) Student bankedSpend money immediately (5pt) Easy to save (5pt)Saving is for adults (5pt) Banks useful to you (5pt)

$0.00$2.00$4.00$6.00$8.00

$10.00$12.00$14.00

Before Immed

Aft

Net Depos

Control 
Find the Full Report

www.treasury.gov – Resource Center – ConPolicy – Research and Reports• Financial Education & Account Access Am

Elementary Students: Findings from the

Assessing Financial Capability Outcomes(AFCO) Youth Pilot (April 2014)

• Full Report• Research Brief

• Lessons from the Field – Amarillo, TX
Call for Future Research

There are many questions that still could be answered, fexample:• What are the long‐term impacts of these intervention

• How and when to most effectively teach financial edu• Is there a connection between financial education and

academic performance/outcomes?

• How much does the culture of savings in a school mak

difference? How much do incentives matter?

• How much in an account is enough to trigger an asset 

Is it the asset itself or the act of saving? For child or pa

both?
Policy and Practice Implicatio

• Classroom‐based financial education can

increase knowledge

– Requires support to implement well

• In‐school banking access has direct and i

impacts on attitudes about financial inst

and on having an account.

• Financial institutions could use guidance 

children savings marketplace
President's Advisory Council 

Financial Capability for Young Am

• Created by President Obama by Executive Order

• To contribute to the Nation’s future financial stabili

increase upward economic mobility.

• Will provide advice to the President and the Secreta

Treasury on how to promote the financial capability 

Americans and encourage building the financial cap

young people at an early stage in schools, families,

communities, and the workplace, and through use 

technology.

• Comprised of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Sec

Education, the Director of the Consumer Financial PBureau and up to 22 non

‐governmental members.

• Webpage at www.treasury.gov/pacfcya.

• Email: pacfcya@treasury.gov
Financial Literacy and Educat

Commission (FLEC)

22 Federal agencies, led by the Department of the Treasu

• Coordinate federal financial education activities• Support www.Mymoney.gov containing free financia

resources from across the government

• Organized around the MyMoney Five core areas• Contains the FLEC Research and Data Clearinghou

• Since 2012, a new focus on young Americans: “Starti

Financial Success”

• Children and Youth

• Post‐Secondary Education

• Financial Education and Planning for Retirement through th

• Research and Evaluation