A push for budgeting over “easy money”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Americans should steer away from “easy money” temptations and toward budgeting, saving and investing for the future, warning that get-rich-quick mindsets often leave people less financially stable, not more. In an interview with The Associated Press late in Financial Literacy Month, Bessent described lottery tickets, buy now, pay later loans and the promise of crypto windfalls as examples of the allure he believes pulls households away from longer-term financial security.
Bessent said he was frustrated by the prospect of young men heading to blue-collar construction jobs while also playing the lottery, adding that he has tried to promote financial education through conversations that bring in community perspectives. “There are a lot of young people, mostly young men, going to blue-collar construction jobs, playing the lottery. It drives me crazy,” Bessent said, describing why he focused on outreach that includes community bankers, retirees and schoolchildren.
In the same interview, Bessent told The Associated Press, “The best thing you can do is not play the lottery,” and he argued people should invest instead and “then watch it grow.” He said Financial Literacy Month has been a priority since he joined President Donald Trump’s administration, and he linked his focus to a childhood shaped by poverty.
Meetings with bankers, retirees and students
Bessent’s push for financial literacy has also included outreach through events with community financial institutions at the Treasury Department, according to the Associated Press. During a roundtable, Bessent listened as bankers described concerns about fraud schemes aimed at customers and efforts to get high schoolers interested in saving, the story reported.
One attendee, Thomas Fraser, CEO of First Mutual Holding Co. in Lakewood, Ohio, said the effort can start with simple habits, including saving early and relying on interest compounding over time. “It could be as simple as a 14-year-old starting a savings account and watching interest compound at 4% a year,” Fraser said.
The Associated Press profile also described Bessent as drawing on long-standing interest in teaching financial basics, including mentorship connections that Geoff Canada, president of Harlem Children’s Zone, has said date back decades. Canada said Bessent has mentored one of his program’s scholars and described the secretary’s approach as tied to enabling social and economic mobility for children.
The “Trump Accounts” and the message of compounding
The conversation about financial literacy, the Associated Press reported, often extends to “Trump Accounts,” a program intended to provide $1,000 to babies born during the Trump administration that would be invested by private firms. The funds would be accessible when children reach age 18, and Bessent said he believes the structure will encourage investing by showing “the power of compounding” because the money is locked up for 18 years.
The profile also said Bessent argued that people of all ages and income brackets could do more to manage their money, including challenging misconceptions about who can handle finance. “There’s a narrative that doctors are famously terrible at finance,” Bessent said.
Critics say costs undercut the advice
Critics of Bessent’s approach, however, argue that the challenge is less about a lack of knowledge and more about limited spare income as prices rise. Emily DiVito, senior adviser for economic policy at the left-leaning Groundwork Collaborative, said in an interview with The Associated Press that it is difficult to promote penny-pinching when people are struggling to cover essential bills such as groceries, utilities and health care.
“You cannot preach penny-pinching while making it harder for Americans to pay their grocery, utility and healthcare bills,” DiVito said, adding that if Bessent is serious about advancing financial literacy, she argued his focus should include lowering the cost of living for working families.
A fiscal backdrop of record debt
Bessent’s emphasis on saving comes as the Associated Press reported that federal debt is at record levels and is raising concerns for budgeting experts and deficit watchers. The profile said the national debt reached $37 trillion in August and then $38 trillion two months later, and it is now at $39 trillion and has surpassed the size of the economy.
Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, criticized the administration’s fiscal approach, saying it has a “problematic record on cutting taxes without offsets and growing spending.” The Associated Press also reported that MacGuineas praised Bessent for setting a goal of cutting deficits in half and bringing them down to 3% of gross domestic product, but she said achieving it would require multiple steps, including spending reductions, revenue increases and economic growth.
MacGuineas told The Associated Press that more financial literacy is important, while warning against treating it as a substitute for broader policy changes. “It’s hard to disagree with the fact that we need more financial literacy in this country,” she said. “The bigger picture, of course, is that we should also probably give a financial literacy class to our lawmakers.”