When asked about six personal-finance concepts, fewer than 20% of teachers and teachers-in-training said they felt "very competent" to teach those topics, and one of the areas they reported feeling least competent about was saving and investing, according to a 2009 survey of 1, 200 K-12 teachers and prospective teachers published by the National Endowment for Financial Education.

WSJ: What Is Your Financial IQ?