Forum stresses financial literacy

JOLIET -- Gas prices are high. Food costs are rising. Foreclosures are up.

"So obviously these are tough times," Will County Treasurer Pat McGuire said Wednesday at Money Smart 2008, a forum sponsored by McGuire and Phi Theta Kappa, the honor society at Joliet Junior College.

McGuire said the forum, held in JJC's technology building, was designed to teach financial literacy to JJC students who attended any of four sessions: Establishing and Keeping Good Credit, Women's Finances, Budgeting 101 and Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

"I hope to help prepare the next generation of Will County homeowners to effectively budget, save and invest," McGuire said.

The event's keynote speaker was Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. He said many of the people who are at risk of foreclosure or are buried in credit card debt do not have the tools to understand the financial messes they've gotten themselves into.

Martire said financial literacy education should be offered in all schools, but that won't happen until educators are given incentives to add it to their curriculums.

Educators are judged by their standardized achievement test scores, so that's where they put their resources, he said. Current achievement tests don't include financial literacy.

Financial literacy education is needed because there are great numbers of people who don't even have bank accounts and don't understand the terms of their credit cards, Martire said.

"There's a humongous opportunity for abuse of a system when people don't have a strong financial background," he said.

"... We have to make sure these programs are in every school."

In addition to financial literacy, the Illinois economy also needs to improve, he added. Since 1990, the state has lost 239,000 high-paying manufacturing jobs. Today, the top employment sector in the state is low-wage service industry jobs.

Over 40 percent of private sector employees do not have employer-provided insurance, and less than 50 percent have retirement benefits. Since 1980, 80 percent of American wage earners saw their salaries remain flat or decline.

Without financial literacy or better economic conditions, "We are setting ourselves up for major longterm economic problems," Martire said.

McGuire plans more financial literacy seminars in the future.

On May 3, his office will offer: "Combating Foreclosure and Managing Your Money," from 9 a.m. to noon at St. John Missionary Baptist Church, 104 E. Zarley Blvd., Joliet.

For more information, go to www.willcountytreasurer.com.

Reporter Cindy Wojdyla Cain may be reached at (815) 729-6044 or at mailto:ccain@scn1.com?Subject=Story.Response