Financial Literacy and Youth

It was the year 2020, and a significant amount of time had passed after the sudden demise of my parents. I was told many things and I was made aware of many things. I knew that a flood of responsibilities was awaiting my presence. The worst one was handling finance. I was completely clueless about it and I was terribly scared of making wrong choices. Numbers and maths were my sworn enemies. I had an irrational hatred towards finance. I despise it.  But I knew I didn’t have a choice but to actually involve myself in the painful process of understanding how to manage my finances. 

During this process, I wondered, why am I learning about it now. I should have been told about all of this back in school. Why do we wait till we turn 20 or why do we wait for a responsibility to land on our shoulders for us to take financial literacy seriously?  

It was during this time I realised how important it is for students and young adults to be exposed to financial literacy. In fact, students should have separate lessons on financial literacy very early on during their school time. We will be dealing with finances for the rest of our lives and yet we have had no lessons on how to create a savings account or what could be a good investment option or how to do taxes. And it is infuriating when people say, “you will figure it out as you grow older”. I am growing older and still, I have no idea about how the stock market works! Only when students will have a clear idea then they can make the right financial choices. Not exposing them to financial literacy is a foolish move. 

Many people feel scared to handle their own accounts, fearing they will make some mistakes. Many are getting scammed because they aren’t aware of how most of the things work. And many people make poor financial choices which cause them a loss of money or make their credit look bad. 

All of this could be avoided only if financial literacy is given as much importance as any core subject in school. It is beneficial and helpful to each and every member of society. Only when you’re fully aware of everything you can make the correct financial decisions and avoid getting scammed.