Local CPA Gives Lessons In Financial Literacy To High School Students

Certified Public Accountant Sebastian C. Lisi, a principal in the Newtown public accounting firm of Colbert, Lisi & O’Byrne, LLC, recently presented several classroom sessions on personal financial management to students at New Haven’s James Hillhouse High School. Mr Lisi is a volunteer in the CPA society’s high school financial literacy speakers bureau. The classroom presentation, entitled “Me, Myself, My Money,” is part of a new financial literacy program sponsored by the Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants.

In recognition of “Me, Myself, My Money,” Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell officially proclaimed November “Financial Literacy for High School Students Month.” The CPA society has already received more than 100 requests from high schools around Connecticut for “Me, Myself, My Money” since rolling out the program with the start of the 2005-06 school year, with requests continuing to arrive at the Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants (CSCPA) offices.

The CPA society created the ten-part curriculum and accompanying delivery plan to assist teachers in the enhancement of financial literacy among the state’s high school students. The program addresses the financial interests, concerns and goals of high school students; obtaining and supporting an automobile; understanding a paycheck; using credit cards and checking accounts; and additional topics that will soon present themselves such as health insurance, investing, and renting or purchasing a home.

“Our CPA society sought to create a program that would interest the students by addressing their age group’s most popular financial concerns,” explained Mr Lisi. “Getting that first car, for example and once you’ve got it, keeping it on the road. The program begins with the concepts of understanding a paycheck; withholding taxes and so forth; and works up to advanced goals such as establishing a credit rating and even the purchase of a home.”

High school educators interested in learning more about “Me, Myself, My Money” may contact CSCPA Academic and Student Relations Associate Jill Wise at 860-258-4800, extension 239, or visit www.cs-cpa.org/students for information. The program is free and available to any interested educator.