Jump$tart hails Financial Literacy Month

The bankruptcy rate, the proliferation of easy credit, predatory lending.

Utahns need help, according to the Utah Jump$tart Coalition, which is making a push to get the word out.

Utah Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. has declared April 2005 as "Financial Literacy Month" on a state level. This week, resolutions in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives proclaimed the same nationwide.

The Utah Jump$tart Coalition will celebrate those proclamations at a gala held from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday at the Wells Fargo building, 299 S. Main.

The month's activities should serve as a reminder of what must be done, and done better, said Lynn Rowe, chairman-elect of the Utah Jump$tart Coalition.

The volunteer coalition is comprised of Utah educators, banks, credit unions, businesses, government and other organizations. It focuses on teaching young people about sound money management.

In its winter newsletter, the Utah coalition reported that "it costs about the same to live in Utah (compared to other states), but we earn less money per hour to do it, with larger homes and mortgages, another car, another child (every other address) while giving a lot of money away, while providing a comfortable living for ourselves and our children, often using credit cards with little regard to the ability to repay the loans."

Also, Rowe added, "Utah is still ranked No. 1 in personal per capita bankruptcy rate of filings across the nation and has been for three years in a row. We recognize that with great chagrin and embarrassment for the people we work for and work with, and we need to do something about it. We need to do everything we can in financial literacy to help our youths get out into the world with the tools they need."

Rowe applauded the 2003 Utah Legislature's action making personal finance education a requirement for high school graduation starting in 2006. Utah is one of nine states to make personal finance a requirement, according to a statement released by the national Jump$tart Coalition. It joins Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, New York, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and South Carolina.

Three states — Kansas, Mississippi and Arkansas — require that a class be offered, the coalition reported, and Virginia just passed legislation requiring financial literacy education in public middle and high schools by mid-2006.

"The world of personal finance has become so complicated, and most people don't understand how to navigate those waters," Rowe said.