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Pamela Whalley, director of the Center for Economic and Financial Education at Western Washington University, presented “Nice People Don’t Talk About it” on Nov. 16 as part of ��������’s Turning Points Faculty Speaker Series, which celebrates and shares the wealth of knowledge and talent on Western’s campus. Whalley asked the audience to consider the following:

• Only 70 percent of children who start ninth grade graduate four years later;
• Financial difficulties are the number one reason students don’t attend or drop out of college;
• Financial incompatibility and mismanagement are listed as the number one cause of divorce;
• Poor financial choices played a role in causing the Great Recession.

Whalley discussed ways to begin the conversation about money in schools and at home so our children will be prepared for the financial world which awaits them. The reality is that our children aren’t failing personal finance – we are failing to provide them with this vital life skill.