Wow, I'm really impressed at how many of you had any kind of financial education in school--even learning how to balance a checkbook. I had nothing remotely like that, and ended up getting asked to leave by my bank my freshman year in college because I had bounced 18 checks

I had never had a checkbook before and the cursory lesson about balancing a checkbook obviously did not stick. Neither was it paired with any discussion of a budget, so I did not learn to prioritize what I wanted and needed to buy.

I went to a very exclusive, high-achieving private high school. Perhaps they figured that all the kids there had financial ed at home. I did not--my parents were at work all the time to pay for the high school and had no time to teach me stuff at home. I hope they teach this stuff now.