“Differences in Financial Education in Each Country”
Financial education helps students understand the various roles of money and finance and think deeply about life and society. It is an education that nurtures the attitude of being able to act independently toward creating a more prosperous life and a better culture while refining the individual’s way of life and values.
Financial Education in the USA
The primary focus of American financial education is personal finance (personal money, planning, and management). For the money they don’t plan to use for a while, they decide for themselves the most efficient way to keep it. People will learn enough knowledge to move their money with their thoughts, such as whether it is advantageous to invest in cash, deposits, stocks, or investment trusts, and what risks there are.
It also includes learning about information literacy to decide what to do with their financial strategy and what information to collect.
Financial Education in the UK
Children learn about finance and economics from the age of three and aim to understand the social structure of money by the time they graduate from elementary school.
The point is in the idea that financial education is not just about calculating money and building wealth.
British financial education consists of four frameworks:
1. Learning how to manage money
2. Becoming a critical consumer
3. Managing risk and emotions
4. Knowing how finance impacts people’s lives
For characteristic number 2, Becoming a critical consumer, the British people learn the selection and payment of products from the age of 3 to 5, decide on how to use the money, think about needs and wants, and understand other people’s consumption and savings. Then they learn the “influence of money,” the “value of money,” as well as ” the influence of others and the media,” “the utilization of information according to the value of money,” and the “differences of cost, price, and profit.”
Financial Education in France
In France, education on bank accounts and investments is provided mainly by non-profit organizations, or NPOs.
Under the schemes of “Finance and Education,” “Financial Skills for All,” and “Keys to Banking,” the government will strive to spread knowledge among the public about bank accounts and money basics, credit and liabilities, guarantees, and risks.
Financial Education in Japan
In Japan, there was a time when morality was expected; they believed that money is unclean, that it should not be talked about in front of children, and that their financial education was behind the times. In addition, many Japanese people lack experience of losing money in the past economic collapse and lack financial education.
Financial education in Japan has just started, and the Japanese are trying to find the ideal form through many discussions. The important thing is that financial education is not a way to make money but that its original purpose is to see the connections in the world and obtain the materials for making the right decisions.
There is a need for financial education that provides each child (and adult) with appropriate knowledge about how to deal with finances and what kind of attitude is suitable, based on an understanding of the proper and equitable flow of money.
References
Arrondel, L., Debbich, M. and Savignac, F. (2013). Financial Literacy and Financial Planning in France. Numeracy, 6(2). doi:10.5038/1936-4660.6.2.8
Jo, W. (2022). FEATURE: Japan’s kids learn financial education as cashless society takes hold, nippon.com. Available at: <https://www.nippon.com/en/news/kd912169315632676864/>. [Accessed 30 July 2022].
Nagata, K. (2022). Japan is looking to strengthen financial education, but are schools ready?, The Japan Times. Available at: <https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/05/17/business/schools-financial-education-investment/>. [Accessed 30 July 2022].
Pearson, J. (2016). Introducing Financial Education into Chosen Hill School: The Story So Far, Mathematics in School, vol. 45, no. 5, pp. 13–15. Available at: <https://www.jstor.org/stable/44810712>. [Accessed 30 July 2022].
Reinicke, C. (2022). Personal finance education is gaining momentum but economics is falling by the wayside, study finds, CNBC. Available at: <https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/17/personal-finance-education-is-gaining-momentum-across-the-us.html#:~:text=More%20states%20 are%20requiring%20students>. [Accessed 30 July 2022].
Thompson, A. (2022). How can government and business improve the UK’s financial literacy?, CBI. Available at: <https://www.cbi.org.uk/articles/how-can-government-and-business-improve-the-uk-s-financial-literacy/>. [Accessed 30 July 2022].
