This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio. Well, we've got a financial literacy problem here in the US. Each year, the TIAA Institute does a financial literacy assessment of adults in the US. They have this thing called a G. Fleck Personal Finance Index. This year, US adults only answered forty eight percent of questions on the index. Carol, and some groups fared better
than others. The levels of financial literacy among Asian Americans and whites are roughly equal, that's at about fifty five percent. But Black Americans correctly answered thirty four percent of the index questions on average, and Hispanics thirty eight percent.
Another gap that needs to be closed. So people who are financially literate tend to do better. This is why it's important. Finner found that people who scored higher on its financial literacy quiz were more likely to set aside emergency funds, more likely to plan for their financial futures, and spent less of their income. So let's get to our next guest. She is working to tackle inequality through financial literacy. Doctor Renee Baker is founder and CEO of
the RBI Group. It's a firm that does marketing and financial education. She's also an adjunct professor at the University of South Florida and she joins us on Zoom from Saint Petersburg, Florida.
Renee.
Great to have you here with us. First of us, tell us about your mission and how you are going about it.
Well, thank you so much for having me on today. The mission around the RBI Group is really to educate, empower and elevate individuals and organizations when it comes to financial literacy. That's really truly our imperative. But we also have an opportunity through amplification of strategic marketing opportunities where
we're focusing in the wealth management space. That's where I've spent decades of my career and getting into in front of the problem, as you mentioned earlier, tackling the financial literacy challenge here in our country.
The thing is is people who who need the services of wealth managers are probably pretty financially literate because they don't have the problem of not having money. In fact, they have the problem of Okay, well, how do I invest this money? How do I make this money grow?
Right?
And I'm not here to say, there are many people who have financial literacy education and our ware, but as you highlight it, there is a tremendous opportunity when it comes to the overall financial education within our country. For instance, I think about my background. I didn't grow up talking
about finance and my community. It wasn't until I got to college where I majored in finance undergrad that I started to have that conversation and as a result, I was able to share with my three daughters the importance of financial literacy. So while there is an opportunity for financial literacy in our country, yes, there are people that have it, but WHOA. We have about thirty one million children in our world and our country that do not
have financial literacy. And as you highlighted earlier, just a small percentage of adults feel comfortable when it comes to financial literacy.
So Renee help me out here again. This is one of those stories, whether we're talking about diversity, whether we're talking about women as CEOs, I feel like I've been talking about it for decades, and the same thing with financial literacy. And I remember talking with people about creating books for kids so that they could really learn about it early on and make it part of a core curriculum. But here we are same problems, same conversation. How do you move the needle specifically?
That is such a great question, Carol, and opportunity, and that's why I'm here, and that's why this is an imperative and admission for the RBI Group, because financial literacy, for one, is not taught in schools. There are so many adults in our country that are not comfortable having the conversation about money. But what we recognize is through the RBI Group, through our programs and our tools and resources,
we can get in front of it. And one of the opportunities these we have is through our kids programs.
We have so much data and research.
That shows that they're earlier that children have access and learn and are educated about financial literacy, the better off they be. They'll be and as adults make more informed decisions.
Right, But how do you do it? So I get it. I think we all agree we're on the same page in terms of the problem and starting earlier is going to be more productive right, longer term? So how do how are you specifically moving the needle on this?
Thanks Carol.
So one of the opportunities we have is through our direct to consumer Kids program, through our partnership with the Sentibles Financial Literacy Program, which was really designed to reach and teach kids about money and through entertainment editainment. Finance doesn't always have to be bad. Finance can be fun. So through educating and entertainment.
We're able to have that offering. We also provide opportunities.
For tools and resources from children through adults through our multiple offerings, and the best way to get that information is to go to our website on BCSD Kids dot com for our director consumer program, but check out the RBI group dot com for more information about our tools and resources.
What about one, Well, I'm get ahead of it.
Sorry, sorry to interrupt you there. I didn't mean to do that, but I am wondering about the role that public schools should take and what high schools should do. It's funny I was reading through the notes that you sent our producer a little earlier today, and this has actually improved. You write that only nineteen states require one hour course on financial literacy to graduate, and doing research for this, that's actually double what I found from just
a few years ago. So it seems like states are starting to get the.
Picture, right, and that's one of another way having that conversation, getting teaching financial literacy and schools and while only nineteen states require a one hour course in financial literacy, getting into schools and getting into kids younger. Right now, financial literacy is not taught in elementary schools. So there continues to be an evolution of this discussion around financial literacy. So getting in front of kids and having that conversation
early but not missing out the fact. Yes, it's important to sooner you get started, the better, but it's always a good time to learn about financial literacy. And we have an opportunity and that's one of the imperatives of the RBI Group and that discussion.
So do you provide programs then, like to help the schools?
Is that so we have?
Yes, absolutely, so we have the financial Literacy program.
Okay, okay, that's right. Sorry forgive me finished, Sorry you bet. We just wanted to let you know we have about thirty seconds left here and I didn't want you to run out of time, so go ahead.
Yes, so, thank you, Carol.
So we have financial tools and resources through the RBI Group, through our Sensible Smart program which is BCSD Kids dot com, which is our director's consumer Kids program. We also provide a variety of tools and resources to educate kids through adults. We even have a lesson plans to help teachers talk to their kids and adults and parents talk to their kids, and you can find reach out to us on the rbigroup dot com for those resources.
Action phase to get.
Started well, certainly something that we've been talking about for a long time. Doctor Renee Baker, founder and CEO at the RBI Group, joining us on zoom from Saint Petersburg, Florida. You are listening and watching Bloomberg Radio