> Teaching financial concepts in a classroom is like teaching swimming with PowerPoint slides. You can explain the theory of the butterfly stroke all day, but at some point you need to get in the water. And with money, the water is always cold, deep, and full of currents that weren’t in the textbook.

It is totally true that these extra-mathematical factors have a big part to play how we spend and how we save. If you’re in a certain culture that expects a certain level of spending, it’s hard to take yourself out of that.

I still don’t see even adults with a good idea of basic financial things. How much does it cost to buy a house? How does a monthly payment change with interest rates? How do you become eligible for Social Security?

You really need to keep these several-dimensional functions in your head. At the least, a good grasp of algebra is required.