Financial wellness is a waste of time—right? Wrong. WalletHub is out with its list of the best and worst states for financial literacy, and offers up a few surprises. It begins, however, with a bunch of depressing statistics.
“We ended 2016 with $89.2 billion in new credit-card debt, the highest increase since 2007,” the consumer credit research site notes. “That’s unsurprising, considering that only two in five adults actually have a budget. There’s really no shortage of statistics that one can cite to illustrate our money-management shortcomings—from the 18 percent of Americans who spend more than they make to the 50 percent of folks who don’t have a rainy-day fund.”
The issue of financial illiteracy garnered “significant attention” in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis, WalletHub adds.
“The housing-market collapse and ensuing financial crisis served as a stark reminder of our societal obsession with debt as well as the dangers of fingertip financial access in the hands of under-informed consumers.”
But how much have we learned since, and what are we doing to help future generations avoid repeating our mistakes, it rhetorically asks?
“Not enough, it would seem.”
It then lists the 50 states by its proprietary financial literacy score. We should add that the District of Columbia rang in at the bottom, so insert your D.C. spending and debt jokes here.
Top 10 states for financial literacy
- New Hampshire
- Minnesota
- North Dakota
- Maine
- Virginia
- Maryland
- New Jersey
- Illinois
- Colorado
- Montana
Bottom 10 states for financial literacy
- Arkansas
- Nevada
- Tennessee
- New Mexico
- Alaska
- Oklahoma
- Mississippi
- Kentucky
- Rhode Island
- Louisiana
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of 401(k) Specialist and Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots. Experienced financial services content executive specializing in creative new media delivery. He joined the American Retirement Association in 2023 as Chief Content Officer, overseeing communications for the organization, as well as its sister organizations.