What is Financial education for young people?
Although financial education is important for those who are already adults and need to take care of the family budget, this subject remains highly relevant even for younger people.
In addition to helping young people take better care of their money early on, financial education in youth makes these people more prepared to pass this knowledge on to the next generations , impacting the future of families as a whole.
When we think about the direct benefits of investing in financial education for young people, some of the points that stand out are: emotional self-control, discipline, organization and planning, self-knowledge, management and financial intelligence, social responsibility, autonomy and independence, and analytical vision. .
Emotional self-control
Having more control over one’s finances helps young people to be more masters of themselves , contributing to the development of their self-control in other situations as well.
Discipline
Understanding what the spending limitations are according to the money received encourages the discipline to balance these financial flows .
Organization and planning
The establishment of financial goals encourages medium and long-term planning, encouraging young people to organize themselves to achieve their goals.
Self knowledge
Having responsibility for your own money helps young people understand what their priorities and goals are , encouraging self-knowledge to make the decisions that make the most sense according to their situation and interests.
Financial management and intelligence
Just as financial education contributes to improving organization and planning in general, it also helps young people to develop from an early age greater ability to manage their finances and make more conscious decisions regarding their money in the future.
Social responsibility
Financial education allows young people to understand more about the destination and impacts of the money they spend, helping them to make more responsible choices in line with their own personal values.
Autonomy and independence
Having an attitude of leadership in relation to one’s own money encourages autonomy and financial independence in young people, helping them to develop earlier and with more security.
Analytical view
Finally, the analytical view to understand the general situation of your finances and make better decisions is also a point impacted by financial education for young people.
How to teach financial education to young people?
Although educational institutions can act on this need and offer financial education, it is important that parents and guardians also encourage the interest and involvement of young people in these matters.
You don’t need to be an expert in finance to start teaching financial education, and this can even be a great opportunity for those who don’t understand much about the subject to go deeper and learn more before teaching something.
Now check out seven simple practices that can be used to teach financial education to young people.
Teach the importance of saving and saving
A basic practice to increase financial health is to save money both for a specific purpose and to have a reserve in case of emergencies, so it is important to teach young people the importance of saving from an early age.
To teach this importance, do things like the traditional piggy bank or something similar and set a date to open it together and see how much money you managed to save during that period.
Encourage the creation of short, medium and long-term goals
Another interesting way to encourage financial education in young people is to help define relevant goals and objectives in the short, medium and long term.
Understanding what are the interests and desires that young people intend to achieve with their money encourages the prioritization of these expenses over time , which also reinforces the importance of saving money to achieve these goals in the future.
Have them write down earnings and expenses
A basic but important point of financial education is control over earnings and expenses , and this should be encouraged from an early age to ensure that young people are aware of their own financial situation.
Carefully monitoring all the money received and all expenses incurred allows the young person to understand how this flow of inputs and outputs works and, even if the amounts are not very high at first, this concept contributes to a more conscious decision-making as this young man has more and more responsibilities.
Encourage reading and studies on finance
As already mentioned, both educational institutions and people responsible for young people can contribute to their financial education, but it is also important to encourage self-learning .
Developing an interest in reading and becoming informed about finance is a way to ensure constant learning on this subject , which is increasingly important as individuals and society in general deal with money.
talk about investments
In addition to stimulating control of money inflows and outflows and building financial savings, talking about different investment options is important to awaken the young person’s interest in matters that are a little more complex in relation to their finances.
Understand and explain the dynamics of investments and how they can be used both to generate some extra income and to protect money from negative effects such as those caused by inflation.
Apply remuneration for activities performed
Even if young people are not yet actively participating in the job market, it is important for them to understand the dynamics of performing a task to receive money – and remuneration for activities carried out can help with this.
It is possible to combine remuneration for day-to-day tasks , such as cleaning the house or washing dishes, and thus encouraging the young person to be responsible for some domestic activities and understand how some effort is needed to earn money.
