The media is starting to pick up on something I learned a long time ago: most people can get all the way through college without learning a single thing about personal finance. I had the privilege of going to what some consider to be the best university in the world, and I graduated thinking the term 401K had something to do with the amount of miles I was looking to put on my 1996 Lexus. And this is someone who took economics in high school and college. The latest report on state efforts to improve financial literacy shows that not much has changed. Millions of kids are graduating high school each year without a clue on how to balance a budget or make wise investments. The basic curriculum simply does not emphasize these skills. So, put on your tinfoil hat with me for a second. What industry would love nothing more than a country full of people who have no idea how to manage their finances? People who would be utterly dependent on paying for outside help to make investing decisions? Yup, the financial services industry. Is it so far outside of the realm of possibility to imagine that the Morgan Stanley's (NYSE: MS) of the world are quietly lobbying to make sure that even less schools are doing a good job teaching about finance? I’m not sure exactly how they’d do this, but they’ve got a lot of Ivy grads working at those places who are a lot smarter than me, and I bet they play pretty fast and loose with their morals. Furthermore, could they be making things overly complicated so that even those with a desire to learn the basics on their own might get frustrated and give up? I won’t go so far as to say such nefarious things are actually happening, but I would bet some higher ups at the biggest financial institutions smiled after reading about the next wave of uninformed citizens about to be fed into their system. More free money due to widespread ignorance. Fight back, people! If school is not going to teach you the basics, you have to do it yourself. It can be empowering and possibly save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in unnecessary fees.