Over the past two decades, financial education in the United States has moved from the margins to the mainstream. What was once a niche topic has steadily moved into the standard dialogue of education and public policy. States are adopting personal finance graduation requirements at a historic pace. Postsecondary institutions are recognizing the role financial knowledge plays in student persistence and completion. Employers, nonprofits and community organizations increasingly see financial education as an essential part of supporting long-term economic mobility.
This progress matters. It reflects a growing national recognition that financial capability is a shared societal interest. Yet expansion alone does not guarantee impact. As the field has grown, deeper structural challenges have become clear. Financial education in the U.S. is still largely delivered as a collection of programs rather than as a coordinated system. Efforts are fragmented across sectors, evidence does not consistently translate into practice and infrastructure to support educators, evaluate effectiveness and sustain quality at scale remains uneven.
At the same time, the needs of educators and the discipline itself have become more complex. Teaching personal finance today requires far more than curriculum materials or isolated classroom lessons. Educators are preparing students to navigate financial realities shaped by new technologies, changing labor markets, rising education costs and an increasingly sophisticated financial services landscape. Yet much of the field was built to address demand and challenges from an earlier time, rather than those emerging and being experienced today.
Financial education should command the same professional infrastructure, research support and institutional respect as every other subject taught in schools. That means strong educator preparation pipelines, rigorous research that informs practice, effective policy frameworks and coordinated leadership across sectors. Achieving that future requires not only improving classroom practice but also modernizing the systems that support educators and the broader discipline of financial education.
This moment represents both challenges and opportunities. Conversations across education, philanthropy and policy increasingly call for “systems change.” The aspiration is merited: to reach everyone who needs it, financial education cannot remain a patchwork of individual initiatives. It must become embedded in the societal systems where financial capability develops—schools, higher education institutions, workplaces and the broader Personal Finance Ecosystem.
But also, we must be candid about the current state of the field. Programs are expanding, expectations are rising and policy momentum is accelerating, yet shared priorities, mechanisms for translating research, educator pipelines and coordination structures that allow a field to function as a durable system are still emerging.
The National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) 2026–2028 strategic plan, Systemic Impact: Shaping the Future of Financial Education, reflects this reality. Our role is not simply to call for systems change—it is to build the conditions that allow systems to thrive. As an independent national foundation with a longstanding commitment to evidence, collaboration and leadership, NEFE is uniquely positioned to help the financial education field mature, resulting in strengthening systems, knowledge and partnerships to ensure sustained impact.
At its core, NEFE’s strategic work focuses on identifying, strengthening and amplifying high-quality financial education systems that demonstrably improve outcomes for learners. We translate rigorous research into practical tools for educators and policymakers, align stakeholders around shared priorities, and elevate evidence-based practices.
Our strategy is centered around five coordinated pillars that drive systemic impact:
- Redefining Financial Education: Clarifying shared priorities across the field, centering equity, relevance and real-world effectiveness.
- Research in Action: Generating and translating evidence to guide policy, investment and practice, including postsecondary ROI studies and modernized evaluation tools.
- Elevating Effective Practice: Strengthening the educator pipeline, improving adoption and quality of K-12 graduation requirements, and advancing postsecondary and early career financial education.
- Building & Mobilizing Community: Connecting partners across sectors to accelerate coordinated action and field-wide adoption of best practices.
- Improvement with Purpose: Strengthening NEFE’s operating model, talent and infrastructure to execute strategy consistently with agility and rigor.
Over the next three years, NEFE will concentrate its efforts on several critical areas.
NEFE will advance effective financial education across the learner journey—from K-12 classrooms to postsecondary environments and early career pathways. While progress in high school personal finance requirements is notable, far less is understood about how financial education functions in higher education and the transition to financial independence. NEFE will help the field identify gaps, clarify opportunities, galvanize partners and build the knowledge base necessary to improve delivery and outcomes.
NEFE will bring greater alignment to the financial education ecosystem. Today, educators, researchers, policymakers, financial institutions and nonprofits often operate within fragmented structures. NEFE will convene and mobilize these partners around shared priorities that strengthen access, quality and measurable impact while laying the groundwork for a coordinated field infrastructure.
NEFE will ensure that research informs action. Through targeted research, policy engagement and modernized evaluation tools, NEFE will help the field better understand what works, where investments create the greatest return and how financial education systems can be designed for lasting impact.
Additionally, NEFE will continue strengthening itself, aligning talent, operating models and resources so that we can respond with agility to the evolving needs of the field while maintaining the independence and rigor that define our work.
The long-term aspiration is clear. Financial education should be supported by the same durable infrastructure and professional recognition as every other subject taught in schools. Reaching this point requires thoughtful stewardship, deeper collaboration and the courage to move beyond familiar approaches as the field matures. NEFE’s responsibility is to illuminate that path, supporting the progress already underway while building an environment where financial education can evolve from a collection of programs into a coordinated system capable of measurably improving financial well-being for all.
This is the moment where expansion meets stewardship. This is the moment NEFE embraces its role in shaping a field that is systemic, evidence-driven and sustainable. And this is the moment to lead with clarity, purpose and vision, because the future of financial education depends on what our community creates today.
This is the second in a series of thought leadership articles by Billy Hensley, Ph.D., president and CEO of NEFE. The series introduces the framework behind NEFE’s recently announced strategic plan—a systems-driven approach to measurably improve financial well-being for all by advancing equitable access, quality and impact in K-12 and postsecondary financial education. NEFE’s strategy is designed to align the field around shared goals, generate actionable evidence, strengthen educator support, expand learner access and build the enduring infrastructure needed to sustain meaningful progress. Read more on this strategy.
Read: Leading in Financial Education When the Old Rules No Longer Fit
Billy J. Hensley, Ph.D., is president and CEO of the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), a nonprofit foundation that champions effective financial education. NEFE is the independent, centralizing voice providing leadership, research and collaboration to advance financial well-being.