TO where are we with financial education? Search results «EdufFin 2022 International Observatory: finance according to the new generations ”just presented by Pictet AM, they help us to understand in which direction we should move, which obstacles to remove. Above all because, and it is the most interesting fact, it is young people who want to know more, to ask for information, to seek awareness to build a life plan. And since October is Financial Education Monthit would be worth thinking about it.
Financial education: young people want to know more. Getty Images
But let’s look at the data from Pictet AM, one of the leading independent asset and savings managers in Europe. Meanwhile, it must be said that compared to the first edition of the research, in 2021, this year more attention was paid to Generation Y / Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) and for the first time students were listened to of Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2006). Compared to 2021, Interest in finance has grown from 76 to 82 per cent, among students over 18 by as much as 21 per cent while among the under 18s (where there is no comparison with previous data), 53 percent believe that these are interesting topics. As for women, they reach 69.
What are the topics to be covered in the field of financial education? One emerges considerable attention to concreteness: for 34% of the total interviewees, being aware helps in their life plans, while for 29 it is about learning to save. A curiosity: attention to savings is a priority for one third of high school students.
Financial education: young people do not find the contents
There is a great desire to know, therefore. But through what channels, and with what contents? Here comes some sore point. A third of the Italians interviewed do not find satisfactory content, for many, finance remains difficult to understand, foreign. There is a clear gap between the growth in the demand for information and the ability to answer the question, especially with regard to young people: more than a third of those of Generation Y and Z say they cannot find adequate content or referrals. Such a pity.
But who should offer these contents? For half of the sample, first of all to Bank of Italy, Consob and a generic state. However, the demand for schools to become the protagonists of financial education is growing from 9 to 15%: a long-standing theme, it has been discussed for some time but without success. Despite several bills lying dusty, Financial Education continues to stay out of the classroom, with a few bright exceptions, such as FEduF (there would also be the issue of teacher training to be addressed, sooner or later). Banks and insurers are among the last places as interlocutors.
Financial education: young people get information on social networks
Social networks are growing, from 25 to 37 on average. Among high school students, even 41% follow the finance and savings info on social media, while the press, already decreasing in all categories (down from 12 to 9 in the last year) completely disappears from the attention of the youngest (only 2 is informed on the card). In the context of social networks, kids favor Instagram and hardly use Twitter at allunlike parents, while WhatsApp is transversal.
“We hope that research can stimulate a virtuous path and a better and more effective content offering,” commented Daniele Cammilli, Pictet AM’s Head of Marketing. “In particular, in an era of media overexposure and information overcrowding, the reliability of the sources becomes central“. A lot of demand, a rich but confusing offer – which should also be verified – which does not always intercept needs. There are prospects, but there is a lot to do for a more widespread and quality financial education, especially among young people.
iO Donna © REPRODUCTION RESERVED