Students learn financial literacy, planning in the classroom

MILWAUKEE - When bills come in the mail, 22-year-old Amanda Jenkins never lets them collect dust. But it wasn’t long ago, Jenkins was in over her head.

"In school, I could tell you A squared plus B squared equals C squared," Jenkins said. "But I can’t tell you how to balance a checkbook or I can’t tell you how to budget groceries or survive for the week."

As a teenager, Jenkins had a tendency to splurge. She blew paychecks on things she didn’t need.  

"I really didn’t have much financial responsibility to think about things and what I was doing with my money," Jenkins said. "I was just having my time, I guess."

All that changed one day when a financial planner visited her class at Tenor High School.  

"She scared me straight," recalled Jenkins. "That was a red flag for me that day."  

Jenkins quickly realized everything she wanted in life wasn’t possible until she got her credit and savings in check.  

"You kind of need to know how to adult. That’s called adulting. Paying bills is part of adulting," Jenkins said.

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"We have people who are dealing with immense credit card debt.  We have young people who are so burdened with student loan debt that they can’t afford to buy a home," said Brenda Campbell, the president of the Milwaukee-based non-profit SecureFutures.  

The group’s goal is to bring Financial Literacy to the classroom.  

"It’s about knowing income and expenses and banking and dealing with credit. It’s everything you need to know about your money," said Campbell.

State surveys find the majority of Wisconsinites, 51%, cannot correctly answer basic money management questions. Fifty-two percent live paycheck-to-paycheck and roughly 3% of Wisconsin households don’t even have a savings or checking account. Three percent of Wisconsin households is roughly the size of Racine County.

"We have students with no one in their family who has ever been banked," added Campbell. "If they are used to going to the check-cashing store, why would they go and open a bank?"

One of the programs at SecureFutures is called Money Coach. Volunteer financial mentors are paired with teens like Jenkins to help build life-long money management habits.  

Jenkins remembered some of the first questions she asked them.  

"How to budget, that’s probably the first thing we asked and the first thing they tried to instill in us. Budgeting," Jenkins said.

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It wasn’t long before Jenkins was able to put $1,000 in her savings account for the first time. Now people are asking her about finances.  

"Some of my friends, they don’t have any credit at all and they want me to help them with their credit," said Jenkins. "I’m like, ‘Oh girl.  I got you. You need me to help you? I know how to get your credit score up!’"

Campbell gave FOX6 News her two cents on how all of us can make changes now for a brighter financial future:

• For one month, track all of your expenses.What do you need and what can you live without?
• What do you need and what can you live without?
• Figure out your long-term savings goals.How much money will you need in 10 or 20 years to buy a house or retire?  What’s your plan to reach those goals?
• How much money will you need in 10 or 20 years to buy a house or retire?  What’s your plan to reach those goals?

"You can either make more money – does that mean another job, Uber – whatever it means for you," Campbell advised, "Or, you can spend less."

Jenkins said she is on track to graduate from UW-Milwaukee debt-free. The life she always wanted is now within reach because she switched from splurging to saving.  

"I’m about to purchase a brand new car because I worked so hard on my credit," Jenkins said.

Next month, FOX6 Cents heads to the classroom: how Milwaukee Public Schools are getting kids excited – and hands on – with financial planning.