Knowing basic math, and applying it are two different things. The financial markets are vastly complicated. If you have exposure simply to arithmetic and not h

Knowing basic math, and applying it are two different things. The financial markets are vastly complicated. If you have exposure simply to arithmetic and not how it is applied to financial instruments, you are ill equipped. Better to teach the basic financial instruments (Checking accounts, fees, overdraft, Credit Cards, Home Mortgages, Retirement accounts, bond and index funds, and simple allocation), and just the math necessary to understand the fundamentals. You can go a lot farther I think with the 3 R's and a solid home economics class than even things like Algebra, or higher math. And, if nothing else, teach these people that if your employer matches, fund AT least that much. That's just free money, and you can't get a better return on your money out of the gate than that unless you're lucky at the sports book (ill-advised...). Vanguard should be publishing ready to go lesson plans for this and giving them gratis to every high school in the nation.