How Does the Filipino Youth Fare in Asian Financial Literacy?

Our local advocacy group Angat Pilipinas Coalition for Financial Literacy is a dynamic financial literacy mission mainly focused on educating the youth on proper money management, financial planning, and investments.

In the past year, we were able to visit some schools in and around Metro Manila not only to teach the students but to teachers, parents and other school employees as well. We believe that if the elders in school know how to spend and save money, the students will find them as great examples and will do the same as well.

But with the Financial Literacy Act or the House Bill 490 still pending implementation in Philippine schools, we have to know if efforts such as our APCFL’s are giving good results at least in terms of improvement in the youth’s attitude towards money.

Surprisingly, the MasterCard Index of Financial Literacy shows that the Filipino youth is doing well among its neighbors in terms of overall financial literacy and investment know-how.  Of course, when Mastercard says “the youth” it pertains to young people from ages 18 to 29.

The research/survey polled consumers on three aspects of financial literacy including their basic money management skills, investment knowledge and financial planning to determine the level of basic money management skills in terms of budgeting, savings, and responsibility of credit usage.

While Hongkong topped the survey, believe it or not, the Philippine youth ranked higher than their counterparts from Australia, China, and India. With an overall financial literacy index of 67 points, the Filipino youth surprisingly ranked even higher than the usually “idolized” Japanese and Korean youth.

However, in terms of being investment-savvy, the Filipino youth is on the average level with only 55 index points. This is where our financial literacy advocates through the help of media and the Philippine government should put more effort in.

As Georgette Tan, group head, Communications, Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa, said, “As the next generation of adult consumers, young people need to be armed with an understanding of how to plan, manage, and invest their money as this is critical to their future well-being.  We’ve seen from the Index that while youth in markets such as Hong Kong and New Zealand are well-equipped, some others are lagging behind, indicating that more education is required on this front.

“MasterCard supports a variety of organizations and programs in the region that focus on financial literacy because we believe that empowering and equipping young people with financial management knowledge and skills will benefit them, their families and communities in the long term.”

To check on how Mastercard conducted the survey, you may visit their website.

Imagine if there are more Filipino volunteers educating our youth, the Philippines will be a much better nation economically.

We Are Looking For Volunteer Writers, Teachers, Imagination Movers

Angat Pilipinas Coalition is seeking projects and encouraging volunteer personal finance writers who have unpublished articles to submit ideas to us.

Articles embracing any aspect of personal finance are welcome, including financial literacy for tots and teens, personal finance subjects in school, insurance literacy for high school/college students, basic stock market investing, raising financially-smart children, budgeting, allowances, savings accounts, mutual funds, financing college, responsible borrowing, banking services, etc.

Book reviews of personal finance works are also solicited.

Notices of conferences, webinars, seminars, calls for papers, and similar advocacy announcements will be accepted.

For submission guidelines and other information, please contact us at angatpilipinasFL@gmail.com or call +63 927-678-8010.

Keep posted about volunteering for our financial literacy projects by subscribing to BurnGutierrez.Com for FREE.

P.S. 1. Bro. Bo Sanchez has appointed me as a coach for our young and new investors at the TrulyRichClub social site. It’s a fun, learning family with the purpose of “helping good people become rich”. I’m inviting you to join the TrulyRichClub too and email me at burngutierrezblog@yahoo.com.ph if you have any questions. Click here to join!

P.S. 2. We will be visiting public schools in Nueva Vizcaya, Davao, Batangas, Rizal, Pangasinan, Iloilo, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, and the Pag-asa Island in the Kalayaan Group of Islands in the West Philippine Sea to help spread the good news of financial literacy. If you are interested to offer your time, wisdom, and resources to our Filipino students, please join us. Email angatpilipinasFL@gmail.com or go here to sign up and volunteer. Angat Pilipinas!