Having a better financial education implies understanding how money works, how it is earned, how it is invested, how it is saved and how it is spent”, explains Jordi Martínez, director of Financial Education at the Institut d’Estudis Financers (IEF). And all this training is not given to young people when they leave the institute. For this reason, the IEF is involved in training young people with workshops given by volunteers from the financial sector and the Agència Tributària de Catalunya. Almost 190,000 4th ESO students have attended one in the last 11 years.
Isn’t it enough to know math?
No. In the future they will have to make decisions that will not be based only on their mathematical knowledge: budgeting, creating an emergency fund or not taking inappropriate debt depends on having other types of knowledge.
Do we have little financial culture?
In general, the financial knowledge of the company can be improved. Proof of this are the results of the Bank of Spain’s survey on financial skills for families, in which half of those surveyed did not know how to answer whether it is better to invest in a single asset or to diversify.
In families, are young people separated from conversations that have to do with insurance, savings, banks, taxes or labor conflicts?
Little by little the new generations break this taboo. Interest is noticeable in the workshops, and I am convinced that at home it is increasingly easier to deal with these issues. However, the lack of financial and economic education of the parents also makes it difficult.
Is there a different behavior in girls and boys?
In the financial literacy survey among adults, it is observed that men respond more correctly and the PISA report on financial literacy reveals that in Spain the gender gap in financial literacy is almost non-existent.
What workshops interest young people the most?
In this edition, the best valued workshops have been Manage your money, in which they learn to manage a personal budget, and Finance for life, which is an introduction to financial planning. He also liked the one on taxes.
What other aspects do they deal with?
We explain to them the importance of having a contingency fund, the dangers of debt, their rights as consumers or the importance of paying taxes, avoiding tax fraud or sustainable finances.
And about profitability?
We dealt with risk and profitability in one of the workshops and another that has been incorporated recently, and that is very well received, is the circular economy.
We have seen young people caught up in cryptocurrency scams.
We insist on the risks of any investment, but especially cryptocurrencies. Before investing, it is good to know what projects are behind it and invest only the money that we do not need.
Teenagers are good at digital, are they aware of security issues?
Today everything is very accessible and fast, which sometimes makes us think less about security. We are considering incorporating cybersecurity into the workshops.
Are you aware of financial influencers?
Some give get-rich-quick tips without blushing. To understand the risks you have to count them, and that is difficult in 20-second videos. That is why it is important to have financial knowledge, to be critical and know where to find the information. From the IEF, we have launched the TikTok profile Cinc cèntims (@ief_5cts) from which we publish finance and entrepreneurship videos to reach young audiences with the rigor they deserve.
