Adults and teens lack financial sense in U.S.

Americans have done some crazy things with their money and have paid dearly for it in the last 10 to 15 years, according to Fox Business.

Approximately 12 years ago, a lot of people bought into tech right before it became a disaster. Two years later, the stock market tanked, and many sold their stocks at the bottom, only to see the stock market rise again, according to the article. Then, many people decided to buy into housing at the top of that bubble, only to be crushed yet again.

Those kinds of stories are all too common here in the U.S., where personal finance seems unmentionable in schools, according to Fox Business. Students learn in elementary, middle, and high school about the Magna Carta, geometric algorithms, and other things they'll never use, but they never receive training on how to manage money.

The only group worse with its money than American adults is American teens, according to Fox Business. A couple of years ago, the University of California reported that American teenagers were spending approximately $179 billion each year. When high school seniors took a national standardized financial management test, they had an average failing score of 48 percent.

"High school seniors have little knowledge of money management, savings, investments, income and spending, " the UC study reported. "A vast majority of students 16 to 22 have never taken a class in personal finance, with two-thirds admitting they could benefit from money management lessons. Alarmingly, 9 percent were rolling over credit card debt each month."

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