by. Henry Meier
Recently, a veritable who’s who of current and former NFL players including former Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis and former wide receiver and legendary big-mouth Terrell Owens filed a suit seeking to blameBB&T Bank for the loss of nearly $60 million. According to the article, the players are contending that the bank should have realized that their money was being taken out of their accounts without their permission by a former financial advisor who was recently banned from providing representation to players. At least when these players lose their money, some of them cangetjobs with one of scores of cablesports networks, whichI have come to believe are nothing more than employment services for ex-NFLathletes. (Itamazes methat you’re not really qualified to be an analyst unless you spend about a decadegetting and givingconcussions, but I digress).
Even without knowing all the factsabout the case, the plight that theNFL playersfind themselves in isyetanotherexample of why we need better financial education in this country. Of course, most people don’t make millions playing football, butthat just means thattaking charge of their financial obligations and properly managing the money they do have is all the more important. For example, one of themost counterintuitive but important concepts behind banking is that when you deposit your money in a financial institution, that financial institution is taking on nothing more or less than theobligation to transfer money in and out of that accountat the request of theaccount holder. In other words, a credit union is not a fiduciary of amember’s funds. A bank account is no more than a creditor/debtor relationship.
Veryfew people disagree with the potential value of financial education, at least in theory. But five years after the financial crisis, New York and many other states have yet to incorporate basic financial literacyinto the every day curriculum of elementary andsecondary school students. There are two basic reasonsfor this lack of action. First, it is argued that schools are already loaded down with mandated standardized tests and curriculum. NewYork, like the vast majority of states in this country, has introduced a common core curriculum. Second,while everyone is in favor of greater financial literacy, it’s not clear how to most effectively provide it. For example, one recent research paper estimated that most financial educationhas a deminimusimpact on consumer decision-making.
