Lately my wife and I have been talking about what skills kids need these days to “survive” in the real world. Reading, writing and arithmetic are great starts, but there are just some practical things that don’t seem to be taught in school. For instance, knowing how to use credit (money isn’t free and paying the minimum is going to take a long time to pay it off; however, the minimum has now doubled under recent banking changes), how interest rates affect borrowing power (each additional 1% increase in interest causes a big increase in monthly payments), how to balance a bank account, etc. While these items are all money related, there are other ideas, but I can’t think of them right now.