Olympia – The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) announces the development of a new financial education resource page for parents and educators wanting to explore personal finance with K-12 students.

As parents and educators continue to seek new ways to help students learn during the varied classroom experiences of online, mixed, and in-class learning, DFI is providing a new resource to encourage the inclusion and integration of financial education into regular class activities.

Understanding that lower financial literacy levels may be linked to a lack of financial resilience in times of economic uncertainty like the current pandemic, incorporating financial education into the lessons of today’s students could mean stronger economic resilience for future generations.

Research from the University of Cambridge  indicates our money habits – whether we will be “spenders” or “savers” – is set around age seven, and that it becomes more difficult with each passing year to change those habits.

“We want to make sure Washington youth have every opportunity to develop strong financial knowledge and habits as they grow,” DFI Director Charlie Clark said. “This new resource page builds on what DFI’s financial education and outreach team created last year to help families and educators with the learn-at-home transition.”

The new activity pages can be found at https://dfi.wa.gov/financial-education/fun-clusters and are broken into grade bands: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12. 

“We recognize that parents and teachers are juggling a learning experience that presents many challenges,” added Lyn Peters, DFI Director of Communications, Financial Education and Outreach. “We wanted to make sure this was easy to use, offered multiple access options – including both online and printable resources, videos and games - and addressed a variety of learning styles. Making sure financial education continues to be a part of Washington students’ lives today is a crucial component of making sure future generations are able to better weather financial and economic emergencies tomorrow.”

About DFI ▪ www.dfi.wa.gov ▪ 360-902-8700 ▪ 877-RINGDFI (746-4334)

The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions regulates a variety of financial service providers such as banks, credit unions, mortgage brokers, consumer loan companies, payday lenders and securities brokers and dealers. The department also works to improve financial education throughout Washington through its outreach programs and online clearinghouse www.dfi.wa.gov/financial-education. In addition to posting information about licensees and administrative actions, DFI uses the Web and social media to provide financial education information: www.twitter.com/FinEd4All ■ www.twitter.com/DFIConsumers ■ www.finlit.blogspot.com ■ www.youtube.com/user/WADFI ■ www.homeownership.wa.gov