US teens trail global peers in money matters    • 9 July 2014
• comments Three teens hold up hundred dollar bills.  A study
released Wednesday by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) found that US 15-year-olds are in the
middle of the pack when it comes to basic knowledge of finances
and wealth-building.  For the first time, the OECD tested more
than 29,000 teens around the world on basic financial literacy
as part of its 2012 Programme for International Student
Assessment (Pisa), which measures academic achievement in 18
participating nations (the UK did not participate).  "Finance is
a part of everyday life for many 15-year-olds - they are already
consumers of financial services such as bank accounts with
access to online payment facilities," write the study's authors.
"As they near the end of compulsory education, students will
also face complex and challenging financial choices."  The test
presented questions about simple monetary transactions using
bank cards, cheques and c