Foreword to the Second Edition

The Council for Economic Education (CEE) is proud to introduce the second edition of Financial Fitness for Life. For ten years teachers have been using this resource to advance personal finance education among K-12 students across the nation. We now are pleased to bring an updated edition to a new generation of teachers, students, and parents. The second edition retains the best of what the curriculum has always offered, with expertly written content and instructional plans for active learning. At the same time, we have made improvements that reflect a decade of teacher feedback. In addition to updating content, we have revised our teacher guides in an effort to make them more user-friendly. The new lessons follow CEE's standard structure and feature fewer graphic elements, making them easier to read and use.

We also have extended the educational resources provided on the companion website, http://fffl.councilforeconed.org/, where teachers can find supplementary lesson activities. The website also contains lesson correlations to state standards and downloadable visuals, among other features.

For over sixty years the CEE has envisioned a world in which people are empowered through economic and financial literacy to make informed and responsible choices throughout their lives as consumers, savers, investors, workers, citizens, and participants in our global economy. Given our dual missions of advocacy and education, we aim to ensure that sound economic decision-making skills are taught early, incrementally, and well throughout the K-12 curriculum.

The importance of our mission has become even more evident in the decade since FFFL was first published. According to the CEE's sixth Survey of the States 2009: Economic, Personal Finance, and Entrepreneurship Education in Our Nation's Schools, the number of states requiring students to take a personal finance course as a high school graduation requirement has increased dramatically, from one state in 1998 to 13 in 2009. Forty-four states now have content standards in personal finance education - up from 21 in 1998. Fifteen states now require a course in personal finance education - up from zero in 1998. With the increasing awareness of the importance of economic and financial education, there has never been a better time to reintroduce FFFL.

We would like to thank the Bank of America Charitable Foundation for its long-term and consistent support. The Bank believes that a strong foundation in financial literacy basics is a critical skill for future economic success. Bank of America wants to help create a generation of young people who can grow into adulthood with the know-how to use the financial system to earn, save, spend, budget, invest and manage credit. The Foundation's continued commitment to economic and financial education makes it a true leader and a positive example for others to follow. Their support and partnership have made Financial Fitness for Life possible.