North Jersey teen wins award for his workshop to teach money awareness to other students

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Financial education and budgeting for kindergartners?
Yes, it's never too soon to start, said Bergen County Technical High School junior Danny Jang.
The Fort Lee teen's nonprofit Futures Financials Inc.'s "money awareness" workshops for students earned him a "Best Educator" citation from the professionally dominated international Money Awareness and Inclusion Awards on May 28.
"Teens graduate without knowing how to open a bank account, budget their paycheck or invest for the future," Danny said. "One in four Americans after the age of 25 still don't know how to invest, how to budget efficiently, which I think is insane. Our nonprofit is built around a simple but urgent mission: make financial education accessible, engaging and everywhere."
As a freshman, Danny joined the school's Financial Literacy Club to get some community service hours. Club members visited Bergen County libraries and taught children financial literacy. But after his freshman year, Danny said, he asked himself, "How could I make this club more engaging and fun?"
The first answer was team teaching.
"We would teach for a day, acting more like a brother and sister relationship than a teacher and lecturer," Danny said. "Then we started collaborating with a lot of organizations on the slide shows and financing."
In spite of a large membership and strong teacher support, Danny said, the school eventually had to bow out as a sponsor over concerns about liability and activities outside of school that were considered "too broad for a student-run club." With a group of students, Danny formed Futures Financials Inc. last year to carry on their money awareness goals.
"Rather than let the work stop there, we formalized our efforts as a nonprofit," Danny said. "This allowed us to continue and grow — teaching hundreds more students, appearing on the news, testifying in Trenton, and helping students start new chapters in schools and communities more open to this initiative."
Among their early sponsors was Next Gen Personal Finance founder Tim Ranzetta, who provided grant funding and tech support.
"I'm an entrepreneur with a passion for education," Ranzetta said. "After witnessing firsthand the multigenerational impact that a personal finance course could have, I wanted to share with a wider audience. Danny's organization is a great example of what we see happening across the country, a movement focused on ensuring all students in high school benefit from a personal finance course."
In order to graduate from high school in New Jersey, students are required to complete 2.5 credits, roughly half a year, on financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy. This includes the fundamentals of debt, budgeting, saving and investing.
However, Danny said, the requirement often loses its impact when incorporated into other subjects such as social studies, and needs to be more separate and specific. Cofounder Wesley Leung testified on behalf of the group before the New Jersey Senate in favor of Bill S3497 (Assembly Bill A4764) that would extend the requirement to middle school grades six to eight.
Meanwhile, Futures Financials continues to expand its repertoire to fit the needs of various student groups.
"We tailor-make a version of what we teach depending on what the kids tell us about how they live," Danny said. "In some cases, the kindergarten or first grade classes come up to the fifth grade class and we teach them together. Sometimes what fifth graders don't know, a second grader might."
Regardless of age, Danny said, "money enters the picture pretty early, I don't care how modest the income."
"Buy me an ice cream, buy me a video game," Danny said. "The kid is always going to be asking for stuff, and the parents are going to respond in different ways."
Financial concerns shift in high school as students prepare to enter college, Danny said.
"They have no clue about college financial aid, scholarships, stipends, loans," Danny said.
Team members follow up with a virtual handout to parents that can function as a game to educate the entire family.
"Not only does it help the children, it also helps parents be more engaged about teaching their children," Danny said. "They learn about it in a fun manner. And that's my goal, for the parents to be aware of what their students are learning. Discussion is the good part."
For more information on Futures Financials Inc., visit futuresfinancials.com.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: North Jersey teen's money awareness course for students wins award