While lawmakers spent way too much time during this past legislative session waging a socio-cultural war that appeared aimed at damaging teachers’ ability to prepare students for life in the real world, researchers were finding there is a different educational problem to be tackled. There are big gaps in the practical knowledge West Virginians have about their own finances.

In WalletHub’s “2023’s Most and Least Financially Literate States,” West Virginia ranked 43rd. Only 8 states (the survey includes the District of Columbia) are worse at understanding personal finances. The Mountain State was 47th in a category labeled “WalletLiteracy” (calculated based on the grades earned by respondents to WalletHub’s WalletLiteracy Survey); 38th in financial planning and habits; and 24th in financial knowledge and education.

We are dead last (surprise!) for the share of adults who have rainy-day funds.

“After the Great Recession, it became clear that more people needed to learn financial literacy. The housing-market collapse and following financial crisis reminded Americans of our obsession with debt and the dangers of quick access to finances for under-informed consumers. The importance for people to be smart about their finances became even more pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and remains crucial in the present during this period of high inflation,” WalletHub researchers wrote.

Perhaps it is the nature of being in one of the poorest states in the country, with a perpetually sluggish economy that year after year is plagued by lawmakers who work against its growth and diversification. Perhaps it is a generational mistrust of financial institutions and traditional financial-planning methods. Perhaps we just aren’t culturally attuned to prioritizing money.

Whatever the reasons, it is clear West Virginia has some work to do — and better financial education for middle and high school students would be an excellent place to start. If we hope to see better paying jobs and more revenue flowing into the state, we’d better know what to do with our money.

If we strive for one without the other, we are setting ourselves up for failure.