NEW YORK - J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has unveiled a personal-finance Web site to help younger people learn the basics of banking and credit.
The SmartCents site is designed to meet national guidelines established by the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, a national group of more than 100 organizations, including government agencies, universities, and providers of personal finance education.
A national survey conducted for Jump$tart last year measured 12th-graders' knowledge of personal finance basics and compared the results with those from a similar poll done in 1997. On average, participants answered only 51.9% of questions correctly, down from 57% in 1997, and only 10% scored a "C" or better on the exam.
SmartCents offers age-appropriate program materials and interactive quizzes on banking, saving, and spending.
The site "allows people to learn important financial literacy concepts at their own pace and in their own home," said Mark Willis, executive vice president of the Chase Community Development Group.
