Financial literacy strategy 2026 sets four priorities, OCC says

The Financial Literacy and Education Commission has updated the U.S. National Strategy for Financial Literacy, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency welcomed it on October 5. The 2026 financial literacy strategy names four priority areas and lists practices for delivering education that people can use at the moment they make a financial decision.

Key takeaways

• The four priorities are youth financial capability, saving and investing, digital financial literacy, and scams and fraud education.
• The saving and investing priority includes promoting awareness of new vehicles such as Trump Accounts for children.
• The strategy calls for timely, actionable education at key decision points and for evaluating whether programs work.
• The commission was created under Title V of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003.

The news

The OCC’s announcement summarized the strategy, which sets out the commission’s goals and the actions its member agencies will take. The commission developed the update in consultation with its represented agencies, public input and independent research.

Under the first priority, youth financial capability, the aim is to build basic skills from childhood through young adulthood. The second, saving and investing, seeks to raise Americans’ knowledge of saving and investing and to promote awareness of newer savings and investment vehicles, with Trump Accounts for children named. The third, digital financial literacy, focuses on safe and confident use of digital financial products and services. The fourth, scams and fraud education, aims to help consumers recognize and avoid scams and to limit the impact of losses.

The strategy also lists best practices for effective education: actionable and timely material at key financial decision points, tailoring to life stage and individual circumstances, reinforcing concepts over time, hands-on learning, high-quality instruction and program evaluation. Comptroller Jonathan Gould said that when Americans understand how the financial system works, they are better equipped to save, protect themselves from fraud and participate in the economy. The OCC pointed to its Safe Money resources as its contribution.

Our analysis

Two features stand out. First, fraud and scams have their own priority, alongside the more traditional topics of youth education and saving. Banks and regulators have been dealing with payment scams, check fraud and impersonation schemes, and the strategy treats consumer education as part of the defense rather than an afterthought. Second, the best practices lean on evaluation. Naming “evaluating program effectiveness” as a principle asks agencies to show that their programs change behavior, which is a higher bar than counting attendance.

The emphasis on decision points echoes remarks that CFPB Deputy Director Mark Paoletta made to the same commission in July, when he said consumers retain information better when it is tied to a decision they face and delivered at the time they can use it. The strategy now makes that a shared principle across the member agencies.

For banks, the strategy matters indirectly. Community banks, credit unions and large institutions run their own education programs, and a federal framework helps them align content with agency priorities, particularly on scams. For consumer credit regulation, the document is not a rule, but it signals the agencies’ shared view that informed consumers are part of the system’s protections.

Room for disagreement

Education has limits as a consumer protection tool. Advocates point out that financial literacy programs have a mixed record on changing outcomes, and that complicated products and aggressive marketing can overwhelm even well-informed buyers. They tend to argue that education should supplement rules and enforcement. The promotion of Trump Accounts within a national education strategy may also draw debate over whether a specific savings product belongs in a general framework. The OCC release does not address either point.

What to watch

Watch for how member agencies turn the priorities into concrete programs and metrics, and whether evaluation results are published. The commission’s MyMoney.gov site is where the strategy and related resources are collected.