[vjk800]

> Financial literacy itself is quite simple: spend less than you make.

Maybe for the quantitatively minded Hacker News audience this is simple. But there are quite many people who have no idea how much they are spending, or sometimes even how much they are spending.

It's easy to forget if you live in tech - or even middle class - bubble, but even the most basic math is very difficult to some fraction of people.

[graemep]

> but even the most basic math is very difficult to some fraction of people.

That is the real problem. People need to learn maths before they can learn financial literacy.

[vjk800]

Maybe. Or maybe there is just a certain fraction of people that are incapable of learning it. Like dyslexia, but for mathematical operations. I mean, it's not like we're not trying. Math is taught in every school at every age group and it's around us everywhere.

[graemep]

There is such a recognised condition with regard to arithmetic. Its called dyscalculia.

Those with it need appropriate teaching, but can end up pretty good at maths.

> Math is taught in every school at every age group and it's around us everywhere.

it is taught everywhere, but I think it is usually badly taught - more commonly badly taught than any other subject.

[koolba]

> But there are quite many people who have no idea how much they are spending, or sometimes even how much they are spending.

Step one would be teaching people to write down the balance of all their accounts on 12/31 of each year. Checking, savings, brokerage, and all credit card debt (including current month spending). The difference in that number over two years is your net for the year.

Your gross is going to be approximately what you report on your taxes. In reality it’ll be a bit more but this gives you an upper bound.