Answers: Will vary

Listen to what financial security means to a cross-section of Americans in this Marketplace podcast (listen from 2:30-5:45)

Questions:

• How will you know when you have achieved financial security as an adult living on your own? When do you hope to achieve this?
• What are the different definitions of financial security that you heard on the podcast? Does it surprise you that people can have such varying definitions of what it means to be financial secure?  
• What do you think are the steps that you can take NOW to help you achieve financial security?

Here's the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom. 

Behind the numbers (Associated Press)

Since 2015, Marketplace and Edison Research have used responses to the poll to develop the Economic Anxiety Index ®, a unique measure of the American economy. The number, on a scale from 0-100, is calculated from answers to a battery of questions. The Economic Anxiety Index® describes just how stressed out people feel about their personal financial situation. The higher the number, the more economic stress someone is feeling.

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Want to have your students experience financial insecurity? Have them play Spent and see what living "paycheck to paycheck" feels like. 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.