Pop quiz: Do you know the interest rate on your credit card?
How about your credit score or debt ratio?
These issues are just a few to grasp while achieving financial literacy, which can lead to less debt, owning a house and even entrepreneurship.
“It?s something that is missing,” Ilene Kessler, president of the Maryland Association of Realtors, said of education programs on financial management.
Howard County government and community leaders are joining forces Thursday for a financial literacy summit aimed at developing a plan to help county residents.
“We need more people at the table ? schools, different banks, Realtors ? to see how we can do a better job of financially empowering our residents,” said County Council Chairman Calvin Ball, D-District 2, who is sponsoring the event.
The outcome could be community programs through Columbia?s villages, for example, or education campaigns through the banks or even a stock market game at the library, Ball said.
Howard?s summit is the first county-level effort to promote financial literacy and provide outreach coordination, said Fern Dannis, director of housing programs at the Maryland Association of Realtors.
The concept of financial literacy has come before up in schools with many officials saying students need to be taught basic financial education. Several counties have made a financial literacy courses a requirement for graduation.
And as more people are falling into debt and declaring bankruptcy, adults need to be educated too.
In Howard, this financial literacy is especially important, where many who work in the county struggle to afford to live there, Ball said.
Nationwide, 48 percent of credit card holders only pay the minimum amount due each month, and 40 percent say they live beyond their means, according to the Maryland Coalition for Financial Literacy.
“It?s a great place for the community to step in,” said Mary Ann Hewitt, co-chairwoman of the coalition?s executive committee.
