Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent marked Financial Literacy Month by highlighting the importance of expanding financial education during President Donald Trump’s second administration.
Throughout April, Bessent prioritized organizing events and championing initiatives that would contribute to increasing Americans’ financial literacy nationwide.
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“We live in the greatest country on Earth, and financial literacy is what fuels the American dream,” Bessent said. “As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, I believe that embedding financial literacy into the fabric of our great nation is more important than ever.”
Financial literacy involves understanding how to manage one’s money effectively by applying various financial knowledge and skills, such as budgeting, investing, saving, and managing debt.
Roughly half of U.S. adults are financially literate, with 49% answering survey questions evaluating this correctly, according to a 2025 TIAA Institute study.
The “Trump Accounts,” a new tax-advantaged savings account for American children under the age of 18, was one initiative highlighted throughout the month to bolster financial literacy, a U.S. Treasury spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
Bessent, a hedge fund and longtime investor, held a roundtable on April 24 with more than a dozen community bankers from various parts of the country, where they held listening sessions on promoting financial literacy.
These listening sessions focused on best practices for financial literacy, its challenges, and areas that Bessent could help support.
During the roundtable, the conversation included discussion on volunteer efforts in schools as part of the American Bankers Association’s Teach Children to Save initiative, a group of banks providing financial education to the youth.
Later in the month, Bessent hosted members of the Association of Mature Citizens, a conservative advocacy organization for people aged 50 and older, for a discussion on the importance of financial education.
The discussions were built on efforts by the Trump administration to allow seniors to retain more of their money through the Working Families Tax Cuts and increased education to avoid “abusive tax schemes” targeting older taxpayers.
The Federal Trade Commission reported that financial fraud for adults aged 60 and older reached $2.4 billion in 2024, up 26.3% from the previous year, according to the agency’s annual report to Congress.
However, most fraud goes unreported, with the FTC estimating the actual losses in 2024 between $10.1 billion and $81.5 billion.
Bessent closed out financial literacy month with a capstone event with Visa, welcoming over 50 students from across the Washington, D.C., area to the Treasury Department for a fair, highlighting the month’s cause.
The financial literacy fair featured many games aimed at growing the attendees’ financial knowledge, including Visa’s Financial Soccer and interactive booths offering free resources.
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As financial literacy month ends, Bessent emphasized it remains a key issue for the Trump administration.
“It is up to each of us to build a better foundation of financial knowledge so that we can ensure that the United States thrives for the next 250 years,” he said. “While Financial Literacy Month technically ends this week, we will continue to promote financial education across the country all year, so we can help put all Americans on a path to their own financial prosperity.”
