Login | May 07, 2026
Avoiding Mistakes Through Financial Literacy Education
Julie Jason
Published: May 7, 2026
When you see a lawyer with regulatory experience dedicating a long-term career to educating investors, it's worth paying attention.
Gerri Walsh has been at the forefront of financial literacy education for nearly 30 years.
She led FINRA's Investor Education Foundation as president and served as senior vice president of FINRA Investor Education -- and before that, she served as deputy director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Investor Education and Assistance, which "provides a variety of services and resources to help investors invest wisely, build wealth, and avoid fraud" (tinyurl.com/sndwkhpz).
Experience with both FINRA and the SEC, each with a focus on financial literacy education for the retail investor, gives Walsh a special perspective. And there is more. She also worked with the SEC's Division of Enforcement -- prosecuting financial firms for securities law violations.
One can argue that SEC enforcement can help develop a skeptic's point of view -- one strong enough to actually deliver on the promise of financial capability by designing and delivering programs that help retail investors understand markets, products and risks.
Walsh, who retired from FINRA recently, has some observations and suggestions to share.
First is the importance of increasing awareness about financial fraud. "Thirty years ago, financial fraud took a very different form than it takes now," explains Walsh. "Now, it's everywhere. It's within any financial transaction. It's on social media."
That leads to a very basic piece of advice Walsh provides to all: You need to understand how any investment product you are considering works, including what can go wrong.
1) How do you pay for it (an account fee; a commission; a percentage of assets)?
2) Are there investor protections?
3) What could go wrong (what are the risks involved)?
The ability to answer these questions takes more than a casual and quick look. You'll need resources and access to unbiased information. FINRA and the SEC provide both.
In its "Investors" section (tinyurl.com/53xn43f4), FINRA provides an array of subject categories for personal finance, investing and protecting your money, where you will learn to avoid fraud and watch for red flags. The FINRA Investor Education Foundation also offers Consumer Insights: Money and Investing, which highlights trends and circumstances that affect "the way Americans manage and invest their money" (tinyurl.com/3xsam8vn).
In addition, FINRA's National Financial Capability Study, conducted every three years, provides important insight into where financial literacy needs to improve (tinyurl.com/4tmxhv2b).
The SEC supplies a number of resources for investors, including its Investor.gov website and investor bulletins and alerts. Both FINRA (BrokerCheck) and the SEC (Investor Adviser Public Disclosure) offer tools to check the backgrounds of financial professionals.
Financial education should start at a young age. The Council for Economic Education, in its 2026 Survey of the States, reported that 39 states now require students to take a course in personal finance to graduate from high school, an increase of four states since 2024. But the number of states requiring students to take a course in economics to graduate declined to 22 (tinyurl.com/2e8y96s9).
There are organizations looking to aid the effort of financial literacy for children. For example, Jump$tart (jumpstart.org), a nonprofit coalition of national partners and state affiliates, has a goal to bring "financial education to every public, private and charter elementary, middle, and high school in the country." It provides resources for students and teachers.
Synchrony, a consumer financing company, announced in April that it will commit $2 million in grants and in-kind donations from its Empowering Financial Futures philanthropic program "to help KŠ12 public school teachers, educators, and community organizations bring personal finance lessons to life" (tinyurl.com/6j792srz). A Synchrony spokeswoman noted that this followed a $1 million donation in September 2025, when the program launched.
The FDIC's "Money Smart" website offers resources for adults and children to "enhance their financial skills" (tinyurl.com/5n7skau3).
The bottom line is this: Unbiased educational resources are plentiful. Retail investors (that's you) have unlimited, no-cost access to them. The potential benefit for you is twofold: 1) your "learning journey" as you explore these resources, and 2) the potential for improved investment outcomes that come about when you are able to make sound decisions by avoiding mistakes.
Seasoned investment counsel (tinyurl.com/52nus8hz) and award-winning columnist and author, Julie Jason, JD, LLM, promotes financial literacy and investor protection. Read her latest book, "The Discerning Investor: Personal Portfolio Management in Retirement for Lawyers (and Their Clients)" (tinyurl.com/4u7h9pjs), published by the American Bar Association. Write to Julie at readers@juliejason.com. While all questions cannot be answered, each email is read and reviewed and can lead to discussion in a future column.
COPYRIGHT 2026 Julie Jason, DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106; 816-581-7500