Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim
Speaker 1: Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio. Well, we've got a financial literacy
Speaker 1: problem here in the US. Each year, the TIAA Institute
Speaker 1: does a financial literacy assessment of adults in the US.
Speaker 1: They have this thing called a G. Fleck Personal Finance Index.
Speaker 1: This year, US adults only answered forty eight percent of
Speaker 1: questions on the index. Carol, and some groups fared better
Speaker 1: than others. The levels of financial literacy among Asian Americans
Speaker 1: and whites are roughly equal, that's at about fifty five percent.
Speaker 1: But Black Americans correctly answered thirty four percent of the
Speaker 1: index questions on average, and Hispanics thirty eight percent.
Speaker 2: Another gap that needs to be closed. So people who
Speaker 2: are financially literate tend to do better. This is why
Speaker 2: it's important. Finner found that people who scored higher on
Speaker 2: its financial literacy quiz were more likely to set aside
Speaker 2: emergency funds, more likely to plan for their financial futures,
Speaker 2: and spent less of their income. So let's get to
Speaker 2: our next guest. She is working to tackle inequality through
Speaker 2: financial literacy. Doctor Renee Baker is founder and CEO of
Speaker 2: the RBI Group. It's a firm that does marketing and
Speaker 2: financial education. She's also an adjunct professor at the University
Speaker 2: of South Florida and she joins us on Zoom from
Speaker 2: Saint Petersburg, Florida.
Speaker 3: Renee.
Speaker 2: Great to have you here with us. First of us,
Speaker 2: tell us about your mission and how you are going
Speaker 2: about it.
Speaker 4: Well, thank you so much for having me on today.
Speaker 4: The mission around the RBI Group is really to educate,
Speaker 4: empower and elevate individuals and organizations when it comes to
Speaker 4: financial literacy. That's really truly our imperative. But we also
Speaker 4: have an opportunity through amplification of strategic marketing opportunities where
Speaker 4: we're focusing in the wealth management space. That's where I've
Speaker 4: spent decades of my career and getting into in front
Speaker 4: of the problem, as you mentioned earlier, tackling the financial
Speaker 4: literacy challenge here in our country.
Speaker 1: The thing is is people who who need the services
Speaker 1: of wealth managers are probably pretty financially literate because they
Speaker 1: don't have the problem of not having money. In fact,
Speaker 1: they have the problem of Okay, well, how do I
Speaker 1: invest this money? How do I make this money grow?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 4: And I'm not here to say, there are many people
Speaker 4: who have financial literacy education and our ware, but as
Speaker 4: you highlight it, there is a tremendous opportunity when it
Speaker 4: comes to the overall financial education within our country. For instance,
Speaker 4: I think about my background. I didn't grow up talking
Speaker 4: about finance and my community. It wasn't until I got
Speaker 4: to college where I majored in finance undergrad that I
Speaker 4: started to have that conversation and as a result, I
Speaker 4: was able to share with my three daughters the importance
Speaker 4: of financial literacy. So while there is an opportunity for
Speaker 4: financial literacy in our country, yes, there are people that
Speaker 4: have it, but WHOA. We have about thirty one million
Speaker 4: children in our world and our country that do not
Speaker 4: have financial literacy. And as you highlighted earlier, just a
Speaker 4: small percentage of adults feel comfortable when it comes to
Speaker 4: financial literacy.
Speaker 2: So Renee help me out here again. This is one
Speaker 2: of those stories, whether we're talking about diversity, whether we're
Speaker 2: talking about women as CEOs, I feel like I've been
Speaker 2: talking about it for decades, and the same thing with
Speaker 2: financial literacy. And I remember talking with people about creating
Speaker 2: books for kids so that they could really learn about
Speaker 2: it early on and make it part of a core curriculum.
Speaker 2: But here we are same problems, same conversation. How do
Speaker 2: you move the needle specifically?
Speaker 4: That is such a great question, Carol, and opportunity, and
Speaker 4: that's why I'm here, and that's why this is an
Speaker 4: imperative and admission for the RBI Group, because financial literacy,
Speaker 4: for one, is not taught in schools. There are so
Speaker 4: many adults in our country that are not comfortable having
Speaker 4: the conversation about money. But what we recognize is through
Speaker 4: the RBI Group, through our programs and our tools and resources,
Speaker 4: we can get in front of it. And one of
Speaker 4: the opportunities these we have is through our kids programs.
Speaker 3: We have so much data and research.
Speaker 4: That shows that they're earlier that children have access and
Speaker 4: learn and are educated about financial literacy, the better off
Speaker 4: they be. They'll be and as adults make more informed decisions.
Speaker 2: Right, But how do you do it? So I get it.
Speaker 2: I think we all agree we're on the same page
Speaker 2: in terms of the problem and starting earlier is going
Speaker 2: to be more productive right, longer term? So how do
Speaker 2: how are you specifically moving the needle on this?
Speaker 3: Thanks Carol.
Speaker 4: So one of the opportunities we have is through our
Speaker 4: direct to consumer Kids program, through our partnership with the
Speaker 4: Sentibles Financial Literacy Program, which was really designed to reach
Speaker 4: and teach kids about money and through entertainment editainment. Finance
Speaker 4: doesn't always have to be bad. Finance can be fun.
Speaker 4: So through educating and entertainment.
Speaker 3: We're able to have that offering. We also provide opportunities.
Speaker 4: For tools and resources from children through adults through our
Speaker 4: multiple offerings, and the best way to get that information
Speaker 4: is to go to our website on BCSD Kids dot
Speaker 4: com for our director consumer program, but check out the
Speaker 4: RBI group dot com for more information about our tools
Speaker 4: and resources.
Speaker 3: What about one, Well, I'm get ahead of it.
Speaker 1: Sorry, sorry to interrupt you there. I didn't mean to
Speaker 1: do that, but I am wondering about the role that
Speaker 1: public schools should take and what high schools should do.
Speaker 1: It's funny I was reading through the notes that you
Speaker 1: sent our producer a little earlier today, and this has
Speaker 1: actually improved. You write that only nineteen states require one
Speaker 1: hour course on financial literacy to graduate, and doing research
Speaker 1: for this, that's actually double what I found from just
Speaker 1: a few years ago. So it seems like states are
Speaker 1: starting to get the.
Speaker 4: Picture, right, and that's one of another way having that conversation,
Speaker 4: getting teaching financial literacy and schools and while only nineteen
Speaker 4: states require a one hour course in financial literacy, getting
Speaker 4: into schools and getting into kids younger. Right now, financial
Speaker 4: literacy is not taught in elementary schools. So there continues
Speaker 4: to be an evolution of this discussion around financial literacy.
Speaker 4: So getting in front of kids and having that conversation
Speaker 4: early but not missing out the fact. Yes, it's important
Speaker 4: to sooner you get started, the better, but it's always
Speaker 4: a good time to learn about financial literacy. And we
Speaker 4: have an opportunity and that's one of the imperatives of
Speaker 4: the RBI Group and that discussion.
Speaker 2: So do you provide programs then, like to help the schools?
Speaker 3: Is that so we have?
Speaker 4: Yes, absolutely, so we have the financial Literacy program.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, that's right. Sorry forgive me finished, Sorry you bet.
Speaker 2: We just wanted to let you know we have about
Speaker 2: thirty seconds left here and I didn't want you to
Speaker 2: run out of time, so go ahead.
Speaker 3: Yes, so, thank you, Carol.
Speaker 4: So we have financial tools and resources through the RBI Group,
Speaker 4: through our Sensible Smart program which is BCSD Kids dot com,
Speaker 4: which is our director's consumer Kids program. We also provide
Speaker 4: a variety of tools and resources to educate kids through adults.
Speaker 4: We even have a lesson plans to help teachers talk
Speaker 4: to their kids and adults and parents talk to their kids,
Speaker 4: and you can find reach out to us on the
Speaker 4: rbigroup dot com for those resources.
Speaker 3: Action phase to get.
Speaker 2: Started well, certainly something that we've been talking about for
Speaker 2: a long time. Doctor Renee Baker, founder and CEO at
Speaker 2: the RBI Group, joining us on zoom from Saint Petersburg, Florida.
Speaker 2: You are listening and watching Bloomberg Radio