Nine out of ten Italians would like financial education to become one in all respects subject to be studied in school. This is what emerges from the latest Edufin report on financial knowledge in Italy produced by the Edufin Committee in collaboration with Doxa and published on 31 October, the day on which the fifth edition of Financial Education Month concludes.
October is Financial Education Month
Over the last month, in fact, dozens of initiatives have been carried out, from seminars to workshops, up to free shows with the aim of helping citizens develop knowledge on insurance, social security and management of personal and family financial resources .
Financial education at school
According to the report, not only is the share of Italians he would like to be very high but also has increased over the years the introduction of financial education both in schools (from 86,5% to 89,1%) and in the workplace (from 76,5% to 79,5%).
The survey calls it "encouraging" that about 67% of the population knows the effects of inflation on purchasing power. However, in this context, despite the improvements seen and the great success achieved by the "Financial Education Month", there is still a long way to go in this field.
Based on the data, to date only 44,3% of the population has it a high level of financial knowledge, a percentage that drops further among young people reaching 30,5% – who, precisely by virtue of this low literacy, show a propensity towards riskier investments.
"In general, a large gap emerges between people's perception of knowledge and their actual knowledge", underlines the report which, to demonstrate what has just been said, gives an example on social security: more than 50% of the interviewees stated that they knew approximately the longevity risk and the functioning of the first pillar of public welfare, but the percentage of those who actually know these concepts and how they work is much lower.
Inflation worries Italians more and more
Among the financial stress factors for families, the main ones are the increase in food and energy prices, the fear of not having enough savings to deal with emergencies and fluctuations in the financial markets. Furthermore, inflation, war and market swings influenced the expectations of the interviewees and their investment intentions. The answers show, on the one hand, a lower willingness to invest, on the other, a strong disorientation on which decisions to take concretely, which takes the form of maintaining the status quo. The recognized importance of the issue of sustainability is also slow to translate into investment choices oriented towards sustainable financial products, but it seems to have a significant impact in terms of increasing future investment intentions.
“Financial education is indispensable for building a collective future, not just an individual one – he underlines the director of the Edufin Committee, Annamaria Lusardi – and is linked to the country's financial stability. For this reason, fragmented initiatives are no longer sufficient, but it is necessary to provide large-scale programs to increase the financial, insurance and social security knowledge of Italians, with specific training offers for the most vulnerable population groups, such as young people and women. And we need to start with financial education as soon as possible. This is why we are here today at the Explora Museum in Rome. Let's start with the young, and let's do it now".
