Our grandparents worked, got paid, saved up, and bought the things they needed with the money they earned. They allowed for a "rainy day," stretched their dollars to the next paycheck, and considered frugality a virtue. If you had enough money, you could buy. If you didn’t have enough, you had to wait until you did. If you needed money, you made a trip to the bank.

How times have changed. Now if you need money, you go to the ATM at the corner gas station or use a debit card. No need to carry cash and you can use a credit card just about everywhere, including parking meters. In fact, you can often defer payments on that credit card purchase for a year or more. Each week, you receive dozens of credit card offers that entice you with super-low "introductory" rates and then impose hefty penalties on late payments. You can attach credit cards to your checking account to eliminate bouncing checks (though adding to your debt). This supply of ready money fuels the impulse to spend. When the time comes for really big purchases, there are lines of credit and equity loans.

But it’s a complicated juggling act, and according to Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, it’s a game America’s youth are poorly equipped to play. Every two years since 1997, Jump$tart has tested the nation’s 12th graders on the basics of personal finance. Each year, participants have averaged a failing grade — from 57.3% in 1997 to a low of 50.2% in 2002. In the last survey, published in April of 2006, students showed slight improvement in aptitude, but the average score remains in the low- to mid-50 percent range. Consider these findings about test-takers from the 2006 survey :

• 20% reported that they have no bank account.

• 29% didn’t understand the disadvantage of paying only the minimum amount on a credit card balance.

Yet 12.9% reported that they had their own credit card, and 14.5% use their parent’s card.

• Only 16.7% reported that they had had an entire course in money management or personal finance.

In the face of all this, school budget cuts prevent instruction in "extras," like personal finance. High school seniors continue to graduate without the skills needed to think, to choose, and to manage money in a changing global economy. Many are unable to balance a checkbook and most simply have no insight into the basic survival principles involved in earning, spending, saving and investing money.

If schools cannot teach children to manage money, then parents must. Where do you start? To answer that question, the Northwestern Mutual Foundation, the charitable arm of Northwestern Mutual, has developed a website designed to help parents teach children how to earn, track, spend, save, borrow, invest, and donate.

The site, www.themint.org makes learning fun, easy, and interesting. From directions for building four-slotted piggy banks with young children to explaining the basics of stocks and bonds with teens, TheMint.org gives parents tips to work "teachable moments" into their days. In a complex financial world, our children’s futures depend on learning these lessons.

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