FRANKFORT, Ky. (KT) – The Kentucky Financial Empowerment Commission (KFEC) announced the launch of the FoolProof Financial Literacy Curriculum, a comprehensive and free resource that is now available to high schools across the state.

“Books are best enjoyed when read out loud,” children’s book author (and former FDIC chair) Sheila Bair tells Axios.

Why it matters: Bair is an adviser to the Foolproof Foundation, which encourages a skeptical attitude toward financial-services messaging in its school curricula.

Teachers from across Connecticut attended the summit to learn about the best techniques and resources for teaching personal finance.

The Post is correct that all students should be taught solid financial education as part of the school curriculum. However, the June 13 editorial “A worthwhile requirement” missed a critical point. Many students want financial literacy that teaches them to be cautious, not impulsive, spenders. And in D.C, a group of fourth- and fifth-graders asked for a curriculum that teaches these skills.

"Fifth-grade at a Southeast D.C. school are getting financial literacy training — and will also help decide if the program should be expanded throughout the District. News4’s Juliana Valencia reports.

"Teachers want to be trained in personal finance so they can give their students the best," said Michael Sheffer, director of education at FoolProof Foundation, which provides free financial education curriculum for students and teachers.

The bottom line: Financial literacy education is increasingly being created by the very companies that the students should be taught skepticism toward.

As the FoolProof Foundation puts it: "Today’s financial literacy education doesn't work because virtually all major financial literacy resources are developed or shaped by businesses that benefit when consumers make money mistakes."

The financial literacy industry, funded in large part by the financial services industry, draws a direct causal line from the bad test results to debt and poverty, and tries to improve financial outcomes through education.

There’s a new crop of mobile money apps promoting themselves as part of the solution to a stubborn problem: a lack of financial savvy, particularly among young Americans.

While the apps appear promising, they make some financial education advocates wary. Lennette Coleman, president of the FoolProof Foundation, which promotes "healthy skepticism" about financial products, said it felt "irresponsible" to allow children, who may not have fully absorbed lessons about the necessity of working to earn money, saving it and spending it wisely, to invest in stocks. If apps make a game out of investing, she added, children may be more engaged — but they may also be more likely to take risks.

As the next generation's economic future is increasingly uncertain in a digital marketplace that seeks to exploit them at every turn, one financial advocacy group is fighting back with a new mobile game that will be tested in classrooms across the country this spring.

Bob Brooks talks to FoolProof's Drew Guthrie about what you need to know about dealing with money.

As schools face challenges adjusting to distance learning, TTCU Federal Credit Union is providing FoolProof, an online financial literacy course, to students across Oklahoma, including 198 students at Owasso Public Schools.

FoolProof covers topics such as taxes, budgeting, how to recognize a scam and more. TTCU provides the program free of charge to teachers and schools.

With millions out of work and many having limited incomes or living off of savings due to lockdowns during the coronavirus threat, making smart decisions so that your dollars go farther has become paramount.

Over the last two years, one area credit union has been trying to teach adults and students how to handle money responsibly via a free online financial literacy program called FoolProof.

The Foolproof financial literacy program is seeing increased use across Ohio during the coronavirus outbreak.

The coronavirus outbreak is impacting almost every part of the economy. With families keeping a close eye on their finances now, a non-profit group is using this crisis to teach everyone, including our youth about handling your money responsibly.

"I didn't know about credit scores and how that will affect buying a home or buying a car," said Espinoza, a sophomore at Will Rogers High School.

Espinoza and his classmates are among the tens of thousands who are learning financial literacy thanks in part to a partnership with TTCU Federal Credit Union.

A professor at West Virginia University said that recently released data detailing that student loan debt is a contributor to a national decline in housing purchases is a red flag that financial literacy among elementary-, secondary- and college-aged students should be treated as a priority.

"These cards are a great tool to learn about money management, if they're used right," said Will deHoo, founder and executive director of the FoolProof Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes "healthy skepticism" about financial products.

That means emphasizing budgeting and saving, not just spending — which, after all, is a debit card's main function. "A debit card never met a sale it didn't like," Mr. deHoo said.

In a classroom that features larger-than-life murals of a bull and a bear -- traditional symbols of the stock market -- a group of middle-schoolers were learning lessons in financial literacy that hopefully produces lifelong results more bullish than bearish.

"Who can tell me what a healthy skeptic is?" asked Sarah Coppola, a teacher at the Ariel Community Academy in Chicago.

Banks, nonprofits and government agencies will be reaching out to consumers during April, Financial Literacy Month, to educate them on making smarter financial decisions. But some advocacy groups say industry-sponsored approaches, the bulk of what's out there, paint an overly rosy picture of products such as loans without disclosing the risks involved.

The FoolProof Foundation, launched in 2013, says it offers free, unbiased financial education, focusing on teachers. The group developed a curriculum that encourages "healthy skepticism" by making students aware of marketing tricks used to drive consumer behavior and teaching them to think critically about where their money goes, from basic savings to online gaming.

"If you don't slow down, the decisions you make can become habits, and they can easily become bad habits," said FoolProof founder Will deHoo.

Most states take a scattershot approach to teaching personal finance concepts to high school students, a newly released financial literacy report card finds, with just a handful of exceptions.

"We find that if a rigorous financial education program is carefully implemented," the report concluded, "it can improve the credit scores and lower the probability of delinquency for young adults."

In an ideal world, financial literacy starts at home. But we don't live in this world. Many parents are unwilling, overwhelmed or ill-equipped to teach their children good financial habits.

So we have turned to educators to get the job done. But where are the educators getting the materials they use to teach your children?

Most financial literacy efforts in schools don't improve people's behavior later in life. That could be because we're focusing on the wrong things.

SKEPTICISM. Smart consumers need to think critically about the advertising, offers and advice that bombard them every day. They need to look beyond surfaces to determine what's really being sold to them, and why.

Will deHoo, our founder, featured in the Green Money issue: Millenials & Money

Ironically, Americans rely on 'businesses that rely on impulse buying and consumer debt to teach us how to be smart about impulse buying and consumer debt'

Ironically, Americans rely on 'businesses that rely on impulse buying and consumer debt to teach us how to be smart about impulse buying and consumer debt'

Financial literacy courses will be able to reach more students nationwide, thanks to FoolProof Foundation, an organization with Brevard ties that received backing from consumers groups this month.

You’ve been fooled by fake news. Perhaps you skipped right over a line that said "Paid Promoted Stories" or "Sponsored Content." Next thing you know, you're reading what you thought was a real news story about how to ease your fatigue, but it's really an ad for a vitamin supplement.

You're reading a real news story online, and below it — or embedded within it — is an interesting headline that captures your attention. Click. Then bam!

Day and night kids in America are bombarded with fake news stories, phony websites, stealth marketing campaigns, and online scams.

How can those kids learn to make wise decisions about their money and their welfare in that chaotic, deceptive environment?

Here's how: by teaching them the life-long habits of healthy skepticism and caution.

"Fake news" has existed as a device of corporate marketers and advertisers whose deceptive tactics continue to evolve in the digital age. And has it evolved!

My husband and I are trying to persuade our daughter to live at home if she decides to go straight to a local graduate school after she finishes her undergraduate degree next year.

Not everyone's an expert — "Nobody blames me for not understanding how my car works," says Lauren Willis, a professor of consumer law and policy at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Prof. Willis, who works with the FoolProof Foundation, an educational organization that seeks to train investors in what she calls "consumer self-defense," argues that instead of conditioning consumers for a predatory market that they can't navigate on their own, the market itself should be restructured.

April is national financial literacy month and April Fools’ Day is April 1st. On this occasion consumers should resolve to avoid being fooled and misled by banks, credit card companies and the financial industry. FoolProofMe.com offers useful information to help you improve your financial skills and to become smarter consumers.

Can I be honest? The politically right thing to say in financial literacy circles is that we need educators—from elementary to high-school level—to teach our children how to handle their money.

Most financial literacy programs are burdened with a fatal flaw: the financial institutions that sponsor them are the same companies known to take advantage of their unsuspecting customers with hidden fees and exaggerated claims. Little wonder the public comes away having learned nothing about the caveats of investing.

If you want your children to be better money managers, you need to model that behavior in your home. They need to see you saving, spending wisely and sparingly using credit.