Financial education: what is it? And why is it so important?
Financial education is that set of knowledge, skills and abilities that help you understand and manage your money in a responsible and informed way.
Being financially literate means being able to understand and apply some basic financial concepts. Among these:
- the choice of how much to save
- the choice of how much and how to invest the money saved
- how to manage a debt
- how to achieve your goals through long-term financial planning
The goal is to help people, of all ages, make informed financial decisions, so that they are more likely to achieve their financial goals and improve their long-term financial and non-financial well-being.
Financial education for dummies
Financial education is like the art of sailsmanship: it helps you not to drown, if you fall overboard, and to sail in safer waters by knowing which ports are available during a storm.
Imagine yourself in command of your boat. An expert navigator knows how to read the weather forecasts and nautical charts to avoid storms and reach the desired destination. Learning to manage your money similarly helps you reach your financial destinations. For example:
- save money to buy your dream home;
- accumulate enough money for your retirement;
- balance income and expenditure.
Inadequate financial education is equivalent to sailing in deep water: if you don’t know how to manage your money, the boat could sink!
3 reasons to deepen financial education
1) Important goals are achieved
Through financial education it is easier to make rational and informed decisions and adopt behaviors aimed at achieving the priority objectives of one’s life.
2) It’s a real survival kit
Learning the basic concepts of financial education will allow you to identify bad practices, avoid falling for scams and above all reach your goals more easily.
3) Social well-being improves
It will be easier to create the conditions to allow everyone to increase their personal and family well-being, facilitating social inclusion.
How important is financial education in schools
Financial education in schools has become increasingly important because it prepares young people to manage their finances responsibly. Integrating financial education into school programs can help all those students who may not receive adequate information from their families, fueling contextual inequalities with consequences throughout their lives.
Financial education in schools is a step forward in building active citizenship. For this reason, the Museum of Saving offers all schools activities with serious but innovative content, proposed through playful and fun teaching. But the Museum is not just a physical place, over time online activities have increased and – to all intents and purposes – it has transformed into a phygital museum, a virtual laboratory that everyone can access.
Learning financial education with the Museum of Saving is not boring! Here you will find video games, documentaries, animations, Artificial Intelligence installations and much more! A real edutainment experience to spread financial education and involve adults and children.
April 13, 2023
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