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FSU Financial Literacy: An Interview with Logan Rand

pexels ahsanjaya 8719570 1 min
pexels ahsanjaya 8719570 1 min

Millennials are a generation of intelligent, innovative and incredibly hard-working people. And while we are a fueling change and disruption across the country, we still, ironically, lack a strong education in one very important field: financial literacy. Students in the grade school system, as well as those in institutions of higher learning, simply aren’t given enough exposure to this very real world applicable knowledge.

Instead of doubling down on these efforts, the number of states that require students to take a financial literacy course has actually dropped over the last two years. How does one balance a checkbook anyway?

In order to get a better understanding of what FSU does to combat this problem and find out how students here can up their financial literacy game, I sat down and spoke with Logan Rand, a Masters of Finance student at Florida State University and the president of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) FSU chapter.

The interview

Gabriel: As a graduate student in finance, what is your opinion on the current state of affairs on financial literacy in our educational system?

Logan: It is not great, to be honest. I also write for my own blog sometimes, and I find that the educational gap between what I want to say and what people understand is fairly large. You can graduate high school without having to know how taxes work, how to get a mortgage, how to use a credit card or even how to budget money. Math is great, science is great, but not everyone is going to use it in their daily lives.

Gabriel: Do you think there is some fault to students on their lack of financial knowledge? Maybe there is a lack of urgency when it comes to finances?

Logan: I think that is true, especially in today’s generation. Many people take out student loans without ever thinking about how to pay them back. For the most part, the fault doesn’t lie on the students primarily. We have a culture in this country that does not promote the pursuit of knowledge in anything other than your specific field.

Gabriel: Are there particular topics in personal finance that you think the school should teach?

Logan: For one, they should teach the economics of mortgages from paying them off to the different ways that interest can accrue. ARM, you have fixed rates, teaser rates, interest-only mortgages, etc., they all have their pros and cons but very few people know why.

Gabriel: What does NABE do to arm students with the skills and or knowledge they need to be financially literate?

Logan: As most of our members are economics majors, they tend to have at least some knowledge on financial topics. Every semester, we hold a financial literacy event on campus. We set up in a high-traffic area and run games that teach people about credit cards, student loans, taxes, budgeting, and even, mortgages and IRAs.

Gabriel: How does the financial literacy event help students once they get into the real world?

Logan: It helps students understand the time value of money, and importance of investing and saving over the course of your life. It also shows the danger inherent in credit cards and student loans if they go unchecked.

Gabriel: How can students get involved with NABE?

Logan: NABE meets every 2 weeks at 7pm, and students at Florida State University are welcomed to join the Facebook group and check out the schedule of events at the department of Economics. We are also hosting meetings on resume critic and professional dress.

Gabriel: Wow! Good on you guys spear heading the initiative. Logan, once again, thank you for your time and this interview. I wish you the best of luck with your future educational goals.

Logan: Thank you, You too.

Going forward

Students have plenty of opportunities to boost their financial knowledge here on campus, but they need to be proactive in seeking them out. The perfect starting point might be to participate in NABE’s financial literacy event and gain some information.

One thing is for certain, there are students out there that are aware of the problem, and they are taking the solution into their own hands. Logan is just one of many individuals here at Florida State University that understands the importance of being financially literate.

You can check out Logan Rand’s blog at Dangerouslymediocre.com.

 

Have something to add to this story? Comment below or join the discussion on Facebook.

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