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Shelley Osterloh ReportingOne out of every 37 households in Utah filed for bankruptcy in 2004. It was the highest rate in the nation.
To help young people learn to manage their finances better, the Granite School district focuses on the emotional connection we all have to money.
For many young people, spending money is entertaining and gratifying.
Amy Davies: "It's just fun. I have money, so I might as well spend."
Kerry Taylor: "It makes you feel perky, happier." Shelley Osterloh: "Why is that?" Kerry: "Because you get new stuff. You get tired of everything and you want new things."
Financial consultant and author Peter Jeppson says young people --- or for that matter all people --- need to understand their emotional connection to money.
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Peter Jeppson, Author, "Money Mastery": "I graduated with finance in business and I didn't get taught the emotionality of money. It's not about economics. It's not about bookkeeping. It's about personal emotional control."
Experts say this is a generation of kids that wants it now. And that usually means buying on credit.
Zach Ortiz: "They get credit cards and they get in debt too early in life. They spend money they don't have."
Jeppson says too many families spend more than they make.
Peter Jeppson, Author, "Money Mastery": "It's not about a rate of return. It's not about investing your money. It's about being more efficient with your money. The way you spend it, the way you handle your debt, the way you pay your taxes and the way you prepare for retirement. Those are the four things everybody has to deal with forever."
By 2008, financial literacy classes will be required for high school graduation, but Granite Peaks continuing education is offering the classes now for students and parents.
Ken Whitney, Granite Peaks Community Education: "They need to learn more than just the mechanics of balancing a checkbook. They need to know that there is some emotion behind purchases and that if it's a good decision tonight, it will be a better decision next week."
Jeppson will teach financial literacy evening classes at both Taylorsville and Kearns High schools starting in April.
The six classes in the community education course cost about 50-dollars, but tomorrow night Peter Jeppson will present a free seminar at Kearns High at 7pm.
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