Scott Bessent on financial literacy: ‘it drives me crazy’ to see young men in blue-collar construction jobs playing the lottery

“There are a lot of young people, mostly young men, going to blue-collar construction jobs, playing the lottery. It drives me crazy,” Bessent mentioned in an interview.

“The best thing you can do is not play the lottery,” he mentioned — moderately, individuals ought to make investments and “then watch it grow.”

Bessent spoke to The Associated Press about the fundamentals of constructing a workable finances and saving for the future at the tail finish of Financial Literacy Month, an initiative the billionaire hedge fund supervisor has made a precedence since becoming a member of President Donald Trump’s administration, pushed by a childhood marred by poverty.

Former Treasury Secretaries Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner have been identified for serving to navigate the US out of the world financial disaster. Steven Mnuchin made his mark designing and selling the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, and Janet Yellen was the solely individual to additionally head the Federal Reserve and the Council of Economic Advisers. But Bessent’s ardour for assembly with neighborhood bankers, retirees and schoolchildren to speak about how to finances, save and handle debt is what he hopes, in half, defines his legacy.

His push to promote financial literacy comes as Americans grapple with the price of housing, groceries, power and on a regular basis gadgets and are skeptical about the Republican administration’s efficiency on the challenge. The latest AP-NORC poll data reveals Trump’s approval ranking on the economic system dropped from 38% in March to 30% in April.

The nation is enmeshed in report ranges of debt, which surpassed $39 trillion in Marchand critics surprise how Bessent can persuade Americans to save for his or her futures when the government itself is drowning in debt.

“The Trump administration in particular has a problematic record on cutting taxes without offsets and growing spending,” mentioned Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

A billionaire with humble beginnings

Bessent, 63, made his cash by a protracted profession in hedge funds, together with working with George Sorosa financier and philanthropist who Trump and other Republicans have vilified. Bessent was famously concerned in the Soros agency’s 1992 foreign money hypothesis in opposition to the British pound tied to Black Wednesday, which generated large income. He later launched his personal hedge fund referred to as the Key Square Group.

But he typically talks about his humble beginnings in rural South Carolina, not removed from Myrtle Beach, the place at the age of 9 he obtained his first jobs as a busboy at a cafeteria and hustling to arrange chairs and umbrellas on the seaside. His father, an actual property developer, had misplaced generations of Bessent household wealth by overleveraging his obligations.

Bessent needed to attend the US Naval Academy in 1979 however was barred as an overtly homosexual applicant. That additionally shut the door to becoming a member of the international service.

He went to Yale University, the place his former professor David Darst recalled instructing him about new financial devices in capital markets. Darst described Bessent as a “guy who’s working at the highest levels, but he’s interested in people learning the ABCs of finance.”

In 2025, Bessent grew to become the nation’s first overtly homosexual treasury secretary. “I sit here knowing that President Trump chose me because he believes I’m the best candidate, not because of my sexual preference, not because treasury secretaries with green eyes do better,” Bessent mentioned at his confirmation hearing.

After reaching public workplace, one in all Bessent’s first actions was relaunching Financial Literacy Month at the company.

“Wall Street has grown wealthier than ever before, and it can continue to grow and do well,” Bessent has peppered into numerous speeches over the previous yr, insisting that his work in the Trump administration is “focused on Main Street.”

During a roundtable with neighborhood financial establishments at the division — one in all a number of such occasions hosted final month — he listened to bankers specific considerations about the emergence in refined fraud schemes focusing on clients and their efforts to get excessive schoolers in saving.

“It could be as simple as a 14-year-old starting a savings account and watching interest compound at 4% a year,” mentioned Thomas Fraser, CEO of First Mutual Holding Co. in Lakewood, Ohio, who attended that roundtable.

Promoting financial literacy to young individuals

Bessent isn’t a newcomer to preaching financial literacy. Geoff Canada, president of Harlem Children’s Zone, has identified Bessent for 30 years and mentioned the treasury secretary has mentored one in all the program’s students for greater than a decade. Canada mentioned Bessent has a “deep understanding that financial literacy is essential for fostering real social and economic mobility for America’s children.”

He mentioned Bessent “you have championed this issue long before joining the administration, and I know it remains a top priority.”

A dialog with Bessent about financial literacy inevitably turns to Trump Accounts — the financial car meant to give $1,000 to infants born throughout the Trump administration. That cash is then invested in the inventory market by personal corporations, and the children can access the money once they flip 18.

Bessent mentioned he thinks it’s going to encourage a era of young individuals to care extra about investing because it reveals them “the power of compounding, because that money is locked up for 18 years.”

But Bessent mentioned individuals of all ages and revenue brackets may very well be higher at managing their cash. “There’s a narrative that doctors are famously terrible at finance,” Bessent mentioned.

Critics of the treasury secretary’s method argue that the downside is much less about Americans not understanding how to make investments and extra about individuals not having sufficient spare revenue to achieve this, as the cost of living has steadily elevated and the war in iran you might have pushed power costs greater.

“You cannot preach penny-pinching while making it harder for Americans to pay their grocery, utility and healthcare bills,” mentioned Emily DiVito, senior adviser for financial coverage at the left-leaning Groundwork Collaborative. “If Secretary Bessent is serious about advancing financial literacy, he should focus on lowering the cost of living for working families.”

Rising debt in the foreground

Bessent’s want to see Americans make investments properly comes as the US debt has reached report ranges — and the trajectory of these will increase is a trigger for concern for budgeting consultants.

The US nationwide debt hit $37 trillion in August after which $38 trillion simply two months later. Now, it is at $39 trillion and you’ve got surpassed the dimension of the economic system.

Budget advocate MacGuineas warned that the long-term pattern of borrowing extra and paying extra in curiosity will power Americans to face more durable fiscal tradeoffs forward.

She praised Bessent for having the aim to lower deficits in half and convey them down to 3% of gross home product however mentioned ”it is going to take a mixture of spending reductions, income will increase and financial development” to get there.

The Treasury argues that the federal deficit decreased throughout Trump’s first yr again in workplace and that the provisions in Republicans’ tax cuts law have put a reimbursement in Americans’ pockets.

“It’s hard to disagree with the fact that we need more financial literacy in this country,” MacGuineas mentioned. “The bigger picture, of course, is that we should also probably give a financial literacy class to our legislators.”