Each of us knows someone who has experienced a financial disaster in the last two years. Not the sort of sudden destruction that was uninsured or perhaps unexpected. Instead, the sort of financial disatser I am referring to is the slow creep of bad planning, the accumulation of debt that you seem to have no intention of stemming, and the continued lack of understanding about your personal finances.
The NFCC’s (National federation of Credit Counseling) recent survey of financial literacy offers a chilling look at where we were, where we have progressed and how far we have yet to travel.
In 2007, only 39% of the adults nationwide kept track of their finances. The survey shows a slight improvement to 43% or two in five adults now keep some sort of eye on how they spend. Of those who don’t pay very close attention, 53% have no budget to speak of with over 11 million adults when asked were unable to give any accounting on how much they spend on staples such as food, housing and entertainment.
More on Paul Petillo's look at learning from financial disasters can be found here
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