Fieldwork Insight: The Definition Problem in Financial Literacy Education

After recently observing a professional development workshop, I uncovered a critical barrier to effective financial education: educators lack a unified definition of what “financial literacy” actually means.

When educators don’t have a unified understanding of what financial literacy actually means, the people who need help most fall through the cracks.

I watched well-meaning professionals struggle to connect abstract concepts to the real challenges their clients face—people who need to navigate public benefits, understand rental agreements, and save for security deposits on impossible timelines.

This isn’t about better worksheets. It’s about reimagining financial education as crisis-informed, trauma-aware, and grounded in the immediate realities of housing instability.

My research proposes practical solutions: accessible reference manuals, decision trees for instructors, and crisis-informed frameworks that center the immediate financial realities of housing-insecure populations.

Financial literacy education must move beyond calculations to address the urgent, lived experiences of those who need it most.

Financial empowerment starts with clarity.

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