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Teach Kids About Money In a recent survey of financial knowledge undertaken for the Retirement Commission it was no surprise that the results showed a high correlation between low financial knowledge and difficulty in managing money.
The same survey, sponsored by ANZ Bank, also showed that using some simple knowledge tests only 43% of people in the survey have a high level of financial knowledge, and the majority of people have a low or medium level of knowledge. The good news is that there has been a significant improvement in knowledge levels since the last survey was done in 2006. Results of the survey can be seen at the Retirement Commission’s new website for financial literacy, www.financialliteracy.org.nz. All this goes to show how important it is to teach kids about money and the even better news is that the Ministry of Education is finally introducing financial literacy into the school curriculum, albeit in a limited way. Any competent financial adviser will tell you that a person’s ability to be a financial success in life is not determined by their academic success or their income; it is determined by their ability to spend less than they earn and to make good decisions about saving and investing. It is almost unbelievable then, that a comprehensive financial literacy programme has never been included in the school curriculum. While money isn’t everything in life, research shows that in the majority of relationship breakdowns, stresses and arguments around money have been the principal factor in the breakdown. Success with money doesn’t determine how happy you are, but it certainly helps. Late in 2008, a pilot project was undertaken for the Retirement Commission to test a Personal Education Framework for primary and secondary schools. It was a resounding success from both the teachers’ and the pupils’ point of view. The Ministry of Education is now set to formally adopt this Framework. While this is great progress, it will not be compulsory for schools to use it and the concepts will be taught across the mainstream curriculum within other subjects such as English, Mathematics and Economics. This means that unless schools and teachers see the importance of teaching kids about money, it may only happen in a limited way. Teachers themselves will have to improve their level of financial literacy so that they can in turn teach their pupils and teaching resources will need to be developed for use in the classroom. There is much work to be done! If you are a parent of primary or secondary school children, ask your local schools how they are going to implement the new Personal Education Framework and ask your local Member of Parliament how much additional funding is going to be made available in years to come so that your children can be taught financial literacy. Teaching kids about money is too important an issue to be ignored! 20 July 2009 |