It is a well-known saying that money does not buy happiness. But it certainly helps in life. It is important to have enough of it to satisfy our needs and to secure ourselves from emergency situations. That's what adults think. And what about the youth? What is their approach to money, what do they know about finances and how are their skills in everyday financial management coming along? What kind of knowledge and skills should be provided? Do young people in different countries represent similar or different approaches to financial matters? Using the results of a research on young people in Poland and Germany, the authors draw a picture of financial literacy. They furthermore present a number of recommendations that help developing the knowledge and the financial skills of young people in practice.
Financial literacy and financial education are not new topics, even though interest in these topics among policymakers, financial authorities, and academics continues to grow. The Routledge Handbook of Financial Literacy provides a comprehensive reference work that addresses both research perspectives and practical applications to financial education. This is the first volume to summarize the milestones of research in financial literacy from multiple perspectives to offer an overview. The book is organized into six parts. The first three parts provide a conceptual framework, which discusses what financial literacy is, how it should be measured, and explains why it represents a relevant topic and effective tool in enhancing decision-making among consumers as well as consumer protection strategies. Part IV addresses the connection between financial education and financial literacy, with chapters about financial education in school settings as well as for adults. This part includes an analysis of the role of Fintech and the use of gamification in financial education. Part V is a collection of contributions that analyze financial literacy and financial education around the world, with a focus on geographical areas including the U.S., South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa. This part also considers how financial literacy should be addressed in the case of Islamic finance. The concluding part of the book examines how financial literacy is related to other possible approaches to consumer finance and consumer protection, addressing the relationships between financial literacy and behavioral economics, financial well-being, and financial inclusion. This volume is an indispensable reference for scholars who are new to the topic, including undergraduate and graduate students, and for experienced researchers who wish to enrich their knowledge, policymakers seeking a broader understanding and an international perspective, and practitioners who seek knowledge of best practices as well as innovative approaches.
This book describes the different types of financial education programmes currently available in OECD countries, evaluates their effectiveness, and makes suggestions to improve them.
This book introduces the concept of financial capability and assembles the latest evidence from ground-breaking innovations with financially vulnerable families, and links it to education, policy, and practice. It is a key resource for those interested in improving financial education and financial products and services for low-income families.
This innovative book explores how the design of financial education programmes could benefit from the findings of behavioural economics and finance and cognitive sciences. It covers the social, cultural and technological determinants of financial education, the role of the banking system in promoting financial literacy, and how governments and regulatory authorities are dealing with financial education and risk literacy programmes in schools.
This Handbook presents in-depth research conducted on a myriad of issues within the field of financial literacy. Split into six sections, it starts by presenting prevalent conceptions of financial literacy before covering financial literacy in the policy context, the state and development of financial literacy within different countries, issues of assessment and evaluation of financial literacy, approaches to teaching financial literacy, and teacher training and teacher education in financial literacy. In doing so, it provides precise definitions of the construct of financial literacy and elaborates on the state and recent developments of financial literacy around the world, to show ways of measuring and fostering financial literacy and to give hints towards necessary and successful teacher trainings. The book also embraces the diversity in the field by revealing contrasting and conflicting views that cannot be bridged, while at the same time making a contribution by re-joining existing materials in one volume which can be used in academic discourse, in research-workshops, in university lectures and in the definition of program initiatives within the wider field of financial literacy. It allows for a landscape of financial literacy to be depicted which would foster the implementation of learning opportunities for human beings for sake of well-being within financial living-conditions. The Handbook is useful to academics and students of the topic, professionals in the sector of investment and banking, and for every person responsible for managing his or her financial affairs in everyday life.
As defined contribution pensions become prevalent, retirees are increasingly responsible for managing their own pension assets and thus their own financial literacy becomes crucial. Based on empirical evidence and new research, the book examines how financial literacy enhances retirement decision-making in ever more complex financial markets.
A growing body of evidence suggests that financial literacy plays an important role in financial well-being, and that differences in financial knowledge acquired early in life can explain a significant part of financial and more general well-being in adult life. Financial technology (FinTech) is revolutionizing the financial services industry at an unrivalled pace. Views differ regarding the impact that FinTech is likely to have on personal financial planning, well-being and societal welfare. In an era of mounting student debt, increased (digital) financial inclusion and threats arising from instances of (online) financial fraud, financial education and enlightened financial advising are appropriate policy interventions that enhance financial and overall well-being. Financial Literacy and Responsible Finance in the FinTech Era: Capabilities and Challenges engages in this important academic and policy agenda by presenting a set of seven chapters emanating from four parallel streams of literature related to financial literacy and responsible finance. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of The European Journal of Finance.
Consumer financial literacy education often appears as a helpful, commonsense solution to neoliberalism and the individualization of responsibility for economic risk. However, in Financial Literacy Education: Neoliberalism, the Consumer and the Citizen this particular literacy is argued to be both ineffective and unjust. Socially created poverty, unemployment and economic insecurity require more than individual consumer solutions; they require collective responses by engaged, critical citizens. Utilizing concepts from Marx, Foucault, Bourdieu and Baudrillard this book challenges those who claim that ‘there is no alternative’ to neoliberal insecurity and reduce education to a consumerist training of entrepreneurial consumer-citizens who can continually invest in themselves and the market. Through an analysis of consumer fi nancial literacy education’s present and historical supports, as well as its likely effects, this book argues that the choice before us is not fi nancial illiteracy or fi nancial literacy. Rather, the choice is between subjugation to the requirements of perpetual competition or overcoming alienation, insecurity and exploitation, aims the critical fi nancial literacy education outlined at the end of this book supports. This book will appeal to those interested in understanding the conditions of our freedom in an increasingly fi nancialized world – critical educators, philosophers and sociologists of education and fi nancial literacy researchers.
Today's graduates should be grounded in the basics of personal finance and possess the skills and knowledge necessary to make informed decisions and take responsibility for their own financial well-being. Faced with an array of complex financial services and sophisticated products, many graduates lack the knowledge and skills to make rational, informed decisions on the use of their money and planning for future events, such as retirement. This book shows what you can do to improve financial literacy awareness and education. It covers the use of interactive games and tutorials, peer-to-peer mentoring, and financial literacy contests in addition to more formal education. It gives you a sample of approaches and experiences in the financial literacy arena. Divided into three parts, the book covers financial literacy education for grades K–12, college, and post-college.
