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Show Statistics Reveal Gap Closing In School to Marriage Years -v ' it 2 1 t ft 1- XI 1 ance poucy, pemaps me purcnase of U. S. savings bonds on their behalf. By helping their children learn how to spend their money wisely, and by teaching the importance im-portance of working toward a future goal, parents thus prepare their youngsters for the day they will be on their own financially. Of course, parents are not alone in this kind of education. Younger children frequently obtain ob-tain guidance in money through their 4-H Clubs, Girl and Boy Scout activity, Camp Fire Girls and through the "Y.'s" Many young groups of church organizations organi-zations also teach members the basic principles necessary to manage their finances. une ox ine concerns ui oDserv-ers oDserv-ers of American families has been the narrowness of the gap between the time the youngsters graduate from high school and when the marry and take on the responsibilities of running a family. Census Bureau statistics cited by the Institute of Life Insurance Insur-ance show that this age gap between be-tween school and marriage has gradually narrowed from 21 to 20 among the girls and from just over 24 to 22 with the boys. Today's girls graduate at 18 and marry about two years later and boys graduate at 18 and marry just about four years later. rne nations scnoois, wnn.tne encouragement of such groups as the National Committee for Education Ed-ucation in Family Finance, have also stepped up their teaching of money management. Many a boy or girl today is taught about the handling of money in classes where the subject fits naturally home economics, business education, ed-ucation, family living, mathematics mathe-matics and other courses. Each summer more than 600 teachers attend workshops in family finance fi-nance that are given at nearly a score of universities under the sponsorship of the national committee. com-mittee. Upon returning home, these teachers pass along to the students the information they've learned. With all this background and education, many young families still need guidance in managing their money. Church and social welfare groups are often prepared pre-pared to help them. The armed forces, through chaplains, the Red Cross and other family service serv-ice agencies, are also working increasingly with people in military mili-tary service and their families, helping them to improve their personal and family money management. owut cnanges lase piaue m this brief interval for both the boys and the girls. For a girl it means a transformation from high school student to wife and homemaker before she is old enough to vote. For a boy it means becoming a husband and head of a household before he reaches the age of 23. Ideally, young people should approach marriage knowing of adult responsibilities, including a good working knowledge of managing family money. They have a lot at stake, both in the early days of marriage and in the future. The typical young married mar-ried young couple starts out with an income of just a little more than $4000 a year, after paying their federal income tax, which means that they have to set up house and live on about $77 a week. Learning to use their $77 each week tends to set the pattern pat-tern of money management they will live by for the rest of their lives. Actually, young people start learning about spending and savings sav-ings long before the thought of marriage enters their heads. They see how a father and a mother have to budget family funds for food, clothing, and suc'iici, as wen ao xui icucauun, savings, insurance and everything every-thing else a family needs. Most children receive an allowance, or earn some money of their own. In many families children acquire ac-quire a concept of thrift at a very early age, starting with piggy banks, then a savings account ac-count in their name, a life insur- |