(MONEY Magazine) – Calling four out of five Americans "financially illiterate," three influential organizations--the National Association of Securities Dealers, the North American Securities Administrators Association and the Investor Protection Trust, a nonprofit education group--are launching Financial Literacy 2001, the biggest initiative ever to teach high school students about personal finance. The new curriculum, which is modeled after a successful program in Texas schools, will teach public and private high school students the basic concepts of financial planning and investing.

Just for starters, this spring and summer the program's backers plan to train a total of about 15,000 teachers in all 50 states how to teach the course--and at no cost to the schools. The nation's high school kids will start reaping the benefits as soon as this fall. If you would like your children to participate, you can ask their school's principal to get more information by checking out the program's Website (www.financial -literacy.org).

--Ellen Hoffman