Obama administration aims for high school financial literacy

A trader raises his hand to bid on stock prices on the main trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, December 8, 2008.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury and Education departments announced plans on Tuesday to cooperate to improve financial education for high school students to enable them to make smarter decisions about money.

The effort comes in the wake of a survey from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Investor Education Foundation showing that young adults display much lower financial literacy than older generations.

"The reality is that all children don't know the basics of saving and investing. It's a skill they need to be successful in our economy," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement.

The departments said they will focus their efforts on poorer neighborhoods with few financial services, which according to the survey, suffer the most from a lack of access to financial education and resources. Starting in early 2010 they will provide teachers a "toolkit" developed by outside experts to help them integrate financial topics into their curricula.

The departments said the Obama administration was committed to putting Americans on a sounder financial footing in the wake of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s Great Depression.

"The searing lessons of this crisis are already affecting the financial behavior of an entire generation, as Americans start to save more and borrow less," Treasury Secretary Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a statement. "We're moving forward with financial reform and strong protection for consumers, but we must also do a better job of making sure our students graduate from high school with a better understanding of basic economics, basic finance and the benefits and risks associated with debt."

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Dan Grebler)