The Financial Proficiency Initiative (FPI) was started in 2021. It's objective is to level the financial playing field by providing the best financial education at the lowest cost possible. Practically, this means high quality educational material and training resources for high schools and their communities.

Why an initiative?
Many societal challenges are related to financial proficiency.

• 2008 housing crisis
• Ongoing student debt crisis
• Retirement savings crisis
• Social mobility and income inequality

Further, a lack of financial proficiency disproportionately affects the most vulnerable who have neither the means nor recourse to overcome financial mistakes.

How is financial proficiency different from financial literacy?
The difference is perhaps best illustrated with an analogy. Swimming literate means you can identify a pool, a diving board, etc. But, throw someone who is swimming literate into a pool and they'll drown. Swimming proficient means knowing how to swim.

Financial literacy is largely descriptive, telling people what financial concepts are and in some cases how they work. It is focused exclusively on personal finance as if finance used in business is somehow different. And, it teaches finance as if comprised of many disparate topics with little connection to one another.

Financial proficiency is decision-centric, focused on how people should make financial decisions in their personal and professional lives. It emphasizes a few, intuitive principles that can be applied to any financial challenge thereby easing the cognitive load and ensuring people are able to adapt to an ever changing financial environment.

How can I engage?
We work with companies, educational institutions, educators, and individuals. For more information please contact me via email (mrrobert@wharton.upenn.edu) to discuss engagement options.