City Controller Reaches Out To High School Seniors About Financial Literacy
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- April is "Financial Literacy Month," and a man whose office works the numbers everyday (in the Municipal Services Building next to Philadelphia City Hall) is reaching out to young people to let them know how money works in their world.
City Controller Alan Butkovitz says nearly 14% of Philadelphians are unbanked, meaning that they have no access to mainstream financial institutions, and another 22% are underbanked.
"They might utilize a bank or credit union," he says, "but they still use check cashing agencies."
His office, along with the Philadelphia School District, are distributing Money Smart Cards to 12,000 high school seniors.
"Students can keep these cards in their wallets, handbags, or phone cases," Butkovitz says, "and utilize them when they need answers to their financial questions."
The cards point them to free resources on opening bank accounts, paying bills, obtaining student or car loans, managing expenses, establishing good credit and paying off bad debt.
Butkovitz says he knows first hand, because he went through the same thing. In his words, "many of us learned the basics of money management the hard way, by not having any."
"There are a lot of things that you kind of forget you didn't know when you were starting out," he says.
