ALASKA TRENDS.

Pop quiz! A 15-year mortgage typically requires higher monthly payments than a 30-year mortgage but the total interest payments will be less. True or false?

Knowing the answer can mean the difference between saving or spending thousands of dollars for homeowners, and not knowing could discourage potential buyers from adding a home to their personal wealth. That's why the FINRA Investor Education Foundation asks that question as part of its National Financial Capability Study. You can take the quiz online at usfinancialcapability.org and test your own financial literacy.

FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is a non-government watchdog that oversees securities trading, so one of its tactics to protect the public from swindlers is, in essence, self-defense training. And, just like martial arts, although financial literacy might rarely be used against an actual aggressor, exercising the skill is part of a healthy lifestyle.

To extend the simile, Junior Achievement is a dojo for financial literacy, economics, and career (FLEC) education. However, whereas STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) has become a focus of public school curricula, FLEC is on the periphery. It's up to JA volunteers to bring FLEC into schools.

Yes, it's true: a 15-year mortgage results in lower interest over the life of the loan. Anyone who answered correctly can count themselves lucky to have that level of financial literacy, whether they learned it from school, JA, or life experience. In this edition of Alaska Trends, we flex our FLEC muscles and find out who is penny wise or pound foolish.

Sources: Summary of Select Findings: Alaska, The State of US Financial Capability The 2018 National Financial Capability Study

Feeding the Economic Divide

Nationally, at schools where 75% of students are eligible for free and reduced lunch, only 3.9% of students are required to take a one-semester personal finance course. At schools with 25% of students eligible for free and reduced lunch, 10.5% were required to take a one-semester personal finance course.

Imagine that the interest rate on your savings account was 1% per year and inflation was 2% per year. After 1 year, how much would you be able to buy with the money in this account?

True or False? Buying a single company's stock usually provides a safer return than a stock mutual fund.

49% Correct

The majority of Alaskans answered this question correctly: False.

Financial Literacy Counts

All financially...