October marks National Financial Planning Month, making it an ideal time to reassess your finances and help children build a roadmap to theirs. Financial literacy programs across Arizona are giving young people a head start on managing money and building financial confidence.
A report out this year from P-FinIndex found adults score just 49% on financial literacy tests, with Gen Z scoring even lower at 38%. Here in Arizona, several programs are working to change that, starting with kids.
Alongside the bustling Fountain Hills Peach Market, young entrepreneurs under 17 are learning real-world business skills. It’s through the Children's Entrepreneur Market, a national program that brings kid-run businesses to larger farmers’ markets where they will get more foot traffic.
"We decided to just do this so we could get the money, save it up, and use it for anything we need,” said Mia Wallace, one of the young vendors who runs Mia and Lily’s Boutique alongside her younger sister.
Seventeen-year-old Alexandra Walker, selling honey products with her siblings through their Bee Happy Sunshine business, says the experience prepares participants for adult farmers' markets.
“We’ve learned a lot from this,” Walker said. "Having this market has been really easy to learn how to do sales as well as marketing and packaging.”
The program offers more than just booth space - it includes training. Melanie Easterwood, Children’s Entrepreneur Market HR Manager, explains the educational component covers finance fundamentals, including counting back change and handling credit card sales.
"It really empowers these kids. Most of the vendors, they start off super shy, but after they do three or four of these markets, they're like rock stars,” Easterwood said.
Beyond entrepreneurship programs, families are finding innovative ways to teach financial literacy at home. Kimberly Sneed, of Avondale, uses technology to help her children learn money management skills.
For her 9-year-old son Adrian, she uses the app Bloomster.
"It's an app where kids can learn different life skills, and financial literacy is one of those courses that they can take. So he’s going through that right now, actually," Sneed said.
Adrian is learning essential money concepts through the digital platform.
"How to spend money, how to save money, how to earn money," he said.
For her teenagers, Sneed has established youth spending accounts, giving them freedom to use debit cards independently. She also has all her children saving for the future through AZ-529 - Arizona’s Education Savings Plan.
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"Once they leave the nest, it's important for them to have those life skills," Sneed said.
Statewide, the Arizona Council on Economic Education, ACEE, is expanding access to financial literacy education.
"We have served more than 2,000 schools,” Elena Zee, ACEE President and CEO, said.
The organization's classroom programs include a stock market game, saving and spending simulations, and EconReads, which uses story time to teach children about economics.
"We really believe it needs to be a core subject,” Zee said. "It is not rocket science. Kids can learn from kindergarten to first grade, and we see that again and again.”
Mary Foote, Director of the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity, says programs like those run by ACEE help bolster the state’s big picture economy by educating its youngest residents.
"It's important for us to know that as we are working to expand opportunities for Arizonans, that they have the financial know-how and capabilities to manage the money, that they are receiving from the opportunities that are available,” Foote said.
These programs aim to build financial confidence in young people, creating brighter futures through early education.
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