Why are Utah high schoolers wearing the nation’s ‘most financially literate’ crown?

The professional futures of each of Michelle Butler’s students at Utah’s Brighton High School are likely as varied as the students themselves.

Many, no doubt, will enroll in college after graduation — positioning them for jobs in business, education, engineering or other professions.

A few might join the military. Others will earn livings in trades such as welding, auto mechanics or cosmetology. And maybe one or two will become entrepreneurs.

But regardless of their varied career paths, each of Butler’s students share a truth: Each will make a lifetime of money choices.

And those choices, added Butler, will be much better if they are anchored in financial literacy.

Now the Brighton High teacher and her fellow personal finance instructors in Utah high schools are being saluted for setting the nation’s bar in prepping students to meet life’s inevitable money matters.

A recent WalletHub survey recognized Utah as the state with the best high school budgeting education.

How did the Beehive State claim the top spot? It’s simple: Every Utah high school student — regardless of their academic or career interests — is required to take a personal finance course if they want to graduate. And they are also given a standardized personal finance test.

“These course requirements have helped Utah get the highest possible high school financial literacy grade from the American Public Education Foundation, and the state is projected to maintain this rank through at least 2028,” the survey noted.

The goal of Utah’s mandatory general financial literacy course, according to the Utah Board of Education, “is to help students to become financially responsible and conscientious members of society as they contribute to their own financial well-being.

“Students should feel empowered to achieve financial success.”

Additionally, noted WalletHub, Utah K-12 students consistently perform well in math. That means they’re well equipped upon entering high school to learn financial concepts such as budgeting, calculating percentages and compound interest.

Budgeting survey methodology

To determine the states with the best high school budgeting education, WalletHub evaluated 11 weighted metrics that reward states requiring students to pass a personal finances course and a standardized test, while also comparing eighth grade math proficiency.

The WalletHub survey also compared the states’ average scores on the National Financial Literacy Test, which measures teenage participants’ ability to earn, save and grow their money.

Every graduating American high school student should possess elemental personal finance life skills — including budgeting, asserted WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo.

“Students who learn to budget before they join the workforce will be able to make much better financial decisions,” said Lupo.

“They will also be able to save more for the future and are likely to have higher credit scores than their peers who never learned how to budget or who had to figure things out on their own without instruction.”

So what is ‘financial literacy’?

A veteran high school personal finance teacher, Butler told the Deseret News that a “financially literate” high schooler first understands his or her emotions surrounding money. How do finances influence their behavior?

“They also understand how to budget, and they understand the three big personal finance things: buying a home, buying a car and retirement,” she said. “And then they have a knowledge of investments and stocks.”

Financial literacy, added Butler, is also about knowing where one’s income is coming from and knowing how to create that income — and then sustaining income.

“And financial literacy is just being able to ‘adult’ in a difficult world, and, say, understanding, ‘Oh, I do need to pay car insurance. This matters, and this is what will happen if I don’t.’”

One of Butler’s favorite things about teaching personal finance is witnessing “aha” moments when her students spot the link between money and essentially all other aspects of their lives: jobs, opportunities and choices, lifestyles, and even personal relationships.

Utah’s financial literacy courses: ‘Making a difference in students’ lives’

Butler didn’t join the high school teaching ranks with the intent of educating students on the ins and outs of personal finance. It’s not a subject Utah districts traditionally recruit for such as English, history or STEM courses.

But after receiving her endorsement to teach general finance literacy, it has become Butler’s favorite course.

“It’s making a difference in students’ lives,” she said. “I have former students come to me years later and they still talk about my (financial literacy) class.”

Butler is certain the financial literacy course that’s required of every Utah high school student is a boon to Utah’s economy. The tools that teens are learning in the class may be what protects families from bankruptcies or other money disasters.

Besides empowering high school students with financial know-how, Butler hopes her courses help prompt family finance discussions at home.

Money talk, she said, “tends to be a taboo concept and topic among parents. They don’t want to talk about it.”

Understandably, moms and dads may worry that discussing family finance challenges might trigger anxieties in their teens. They want to shield them from money’s rough realities.

But understanding and discussing family finances, assured Butler, can foster confidence.

“I’ve had so many parents respond back to me and say, ‘Thank you so much for opening this door because I didn’t realize my child wanted to talk about (personal finance) — or I didn’t realize what they did or didn’t know. Now I’m able to have those conversations with them.’”

Is social media dipping into teens’ wallets?

More than half of American college students participating in a recent personal finance survey said they feel pressured by social media to spend beyond their means.

No surprise, many Utah high schoolers are also tracking their favorite influencers on Instagram or TikTok. And like the college kids, some experience social media “FOMO,” aka “fear of missing out” — resulting in poor money choices.

So Butler utilizes her personal finance courses to help students become a bit more social media-savvy about their money choices and behaviors.

Social media posts depict people’s “best lives,” albeit often falsely, observed Butler.

Such depictions can pressure followers to make poor money decisions. So Butler challenges students to track their spending for a month to identify ways they’ve been influenced in their cash choices by others.

Then Butler asks students to review their line-item spending.

“Often they will say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know I spent so much money on coffee’ or ‘I didn’t know I spent so much money on food.’”

When asked about such choices, Butler hears this common response: “Because my friends were going out to lunch. I had a lunch I brought from home, but my friends were all going out.”