Due to ignorance in the field of economics and money, people are often unable to provide themselves with a decent life, even with a good salary. In addition, other people often take advantage of our financial illiteracy, which leads to dire consequences. It is for these two reasons that it is worth learning the basics of financial literacy. As you will see later, the ability to earn a lot does not mean a comfortable life. If a person earns money only with the help of certain skills (musical, medical education), then this is not enough. The ability to manage the money you earn requires completely new skills and knowledge - and this is what can lead you to financial independence.

We are not taught how to manage personal money at school or even at university - and this is the biggest omission both for any state and for you and me. We come across money issues several times a day and at the same time we do not understand at all what money is and how to become a financially wealthy person. Moreover, if you ask almost any person what a financially wealthy person is, the answer will be the same: “The one who has a car and good house" In our course, you will understand that this is an incorrect definition of a wealthy person for many reasons and you will learn what kind of thinking you need to develop in yourself in order to achieve a stable financial position after a few years or at least acquire some habits that will help you save wisely and not throw money away .

What is financial literacy?

This is not a very simple question, because different people understand it differently, and this concept itself is rather philosophical and purely subjective. But if we still try to give direction to our course, then we can say that:

Financial literacy is a clear understanding of how money works, how to earn it and manage it. There are two main characteristics of a financially literate person. First: his expenses never exceed his income. Second: any positive difference between monthly income and expenses is used in investments of any form.

Surely you know many people who have been earning quite good money for several years and yet are barely making ends meet. They are great at what they do - it could be programming, art, science, . However, some of them even manage to get into debt. And it would be nice if they also bought important things for themselves, with the help of which they... Typically, these products are completely pointless and purchasing them becomes burdensome.

This may seem strange, but in fact it doesn't matter how much you earn at the moment. In the history of mankind there are thousands of stories about how a completely poor person became a millionaire. There are also reverse stories - people who were hit with wealth managed to lose everything in a short time. Therefore, it is very important to understand that your current income is not a death sentence. This is precisely why financial literacy is needed. It shows how, by acquiring some financial habits, anyone can climb out of a financial hole and get back on their feet.

Economics is complex instrument for understanding. This is evidenced by financial crises, when even the best economists in the world were not able to predict things that now seem obvious. Now economists use the phrase about cycles, abdicating responsibility: “There are cycles, there will always be world crises.” No one can predict the exact date of the crisis, but everyone can prepare for them.

Can a millionaire be financially illiterate? Maybe. For example, this is a Hollywood actor who can receive several million dollars for one role. After some time, his fame fades, and with him his financial condition. Therefore, he is forced to spend the rest of his life playing low-paying roles, selling off his property in order to make ends meet. This is a perfect illustration of the importance of financial literacy.

Application of financial literacy in life

Studying the theory, cultivating a conscious attitude towards money and financial thinking - these three things will help any person get settled in life.

Financial thinking is most important, but it is very important to constantly learn and supplement knowledge with practical skills. Some people believe that you need to work as hard as possible to become financially secure. On the one hand, this is true, but on the other hand, you must first of all work wisely. Once you start your financial journey, you are forced to work as hard as possible. But there is one important point: how more money you become, the more intelligently you should approach your work. There is no point in becoming rich and working your ass off. A financially literate person, as his capital increases, works less and at the same time accomplishes more. For example, once you reach the point of becoming an investor, you can work less. Money will work for you. Of course, in this case, no one forbids you to do what you love and continue to work, but now you will decide for yourself how much and where.

Remember that you can apply financial knowledge now. Everything you do with your finances today affects your future. When you stop buying things you don't need, you have new opportunities. A simple thought begins to form in your mind: money should make new money. Simply spending your income gives immediate results and does not move you forward in any way.

Any book about financial independence will first of all make you understand the importance of optimizing expenses in your life. Spending everything you earn is the worst strategy, worse than living on credit.

Our course will help you change your life and attitude towards money. You will learn to think in terms of decades. In any area of ​​life, satisfying immediate desires does not lead to anything good. In the financial sphere, this can lead to the most catastrophic consequences. The financial literacy course is designed to change your thinking and help you become a more mature and human person.

How to learn financial literacy?

No one is born financially literate. You can be born in rich family, but this does not guarantee you a great financial future.

To develop financial thinking in yourself, you need to devote many months to this. However, you can develop many positive changes in yourself within a few days. The theory of money can be learned fairly quickly, and you can also understand how the stock market or bank works. And only by understanding how finance works will you begin to move forward little by little.

In past times, financial literacy was even worse. Man was forced to work from morning to night in order to at least survive. Financial culture existed in its infancy. To become a wealthy person, you had to use force. Nowadays, a lot has changed and this is a great chance for each of us to succeed in life. There is a lot of freely available materials: books, courses and videos. Any information is available here and now. However, as we know, the availability of information at the same time depreciates it. You must clearly understand that you already have everything you need for financial prosperity, you just need to find the right materials.

Perhaps the most important skill for developing financial literacy is. More than 90% of people in the world spend money completely thoughtlessly and it is for this reason that none of them will become a wealthy person. Nobody guarantees anything to the remaining 10%, but they still have more chances. By developing discipline around your financial habits, you increase your chances a thousandfold of being retired in ten years, having passive sources of income, and doing whatever you want.

Want to test your knowledge?

If you want to test your theoretical knowledge on the topic of the course and understand how suitable it is for you, you can take our test. For each question, only 1 option can be correct. After you select one of the options, the system automatically moves on to the next question.

Lessons on financial literacy

Having studied a large number of literature and biographies of rich and successful people, we came to the conclusion that financial literacy is a skill. Any skill can be learned. We have developed six lessons for you, each of which will cover a specific aspect of financial literacy. The good news is that we didn't have to target different types of people because financial literacy is not unique to every financially successful person. This is a certain set of knowledge and simple skills that everyone can acquire. All great businessmen had approximately the same philosophy, only the ways to achieve the goal differed.

Purpose of the course: to introduce our reader to planning, financial analysis and investing.

Course Objective: develop financial thinking in the reader, which is not taught at school and university.

We present you with a short overview of each of the lessons.

How to take classes?

At times this course may not seem very easy, but we tried to mix simple and difficult things. Economics is somewhat complex, but once you get to know it better, you will understand that it has its own completely understandable laws. There are also completely illogical things in it, but you will understand this and do everything to be prepared for the unexpected.

The first, third and fifth lessons are more related to theory than practice. You can choose this order of study. The theory will require the least amount of time. The second, fourth and sixth lessons are mostly practice and require more time to study and implement. However, you can study the lessons in order. The symbiosis of theory and practice is the right approach and any professional knows about this. You can think a lot and not act, or you can act thoughtlessly and make a lot of mistakes. When you think and act, you get the best results.

You can take our course in two ways, related to time periods. For example, if you have time, a week may well be enough for you. However, we recommend that you take the course more thoughtfully and return to it from time to time. Once you've completed the course, come back and reinforce your skills, review the recommended reading list, and move on. However, our course is self-sufficient in itself and will help open your eyes to many things. We tried to make it fun and easy to understand.

Hello, friends!

Over the course of decades, a very dangerous stereotype has grown in our country, according to which financial literacy is needed only by people working in the financial markets. And only now is the painful realization beginning to dawn that without her we are like little children who cannot read and count.

The governing bodies also saw the vacuum that had formed in the field of financial education. In 2017, Russia approved a strategy to eliminate illiteracy in financial matters, designed until 2023.

What is financial literacy and why is it important?

While preparing the material for this article, I realized that I could easily slip into the realm of a finance textbook. This will seem boring and uninteresting to people who do not have an economic education and have never heard of compound interest, investments and risks.

It seems to me that my task is at the everyday level in simple language convey to readers one single idea - financial literacy is necessary for absolutely any person.

What is financial literacy and why is it needed?

– this is the necessary knowledge that helps to plan a family budget, save money in conditions of instability in the economy and increase it in order to ensure a decent standard of living for yourself and your loved ones.

Now tell me that you don’t need this, then I can sympathize with you.

Problems that a financially illiterate person may face:

1. Participation in dubious monetary transactions that lead to the loss of invested funds (for example, pyramid schemes).
2. Recklessly getting into debt by taking out loans at inflated rates.
3. Investment that does not protect savings even from inflation, including pension savings.
4. Lack of understanding of the operation of most market instruments, proper use which can lead to improved well-being.
5. Unsecured old age on a poverty stipend from the state.

We definitely don't need such problems. Therefore, now let's determine the main reasons for compulsory study of the basics of money literacy:

1. Learn to keep track of your income and expenses for the purpose of further budget planning.
2. Learn to live within your means, and not become an eternal client of credit institutions.
3. Understand existing tools for preserving and increasing your own funds in order to ensure that you receive passive income in the future.
4. Avoid becoming the target of fraudulent activities.
5. Protect yourself and your family from economic crises.

Statistics on the level of financial education of the Russian population

In 2015, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation conducted a study in which it assessed the level of knowledge of the Russian population in issues financial sector. Participants ranged in age from 14 to 79 years. Interesting results were obtained:

• 24% of respondents, when asked whether they have at least some amount for unforeseen expenses, answered “No”;
• only 20% are confident in a fair resolution of a dispute or conflict with financial institution(bank, insurance company);
• 37% of those surveyed who took out some types of loans did not compare these banking products with each other and did not choose the best offer;
• 70% of respondents believe that the state is responsible for a decent level of a person’s pension.

These are bad results, but there are also good ones:

• 64% understand that the higher the return, the higher the risk;
• There was a positive trend for almost all questions of the questionnaire compared to 2013, when the first studies were conducted.

This is official data obtained from a study, but there is also a subjective opinion of Russians. In 2017, the National Agency for Financial Research (NAFI) conducted a survey among the population of the Russian Federation. Only 12% of Russians believe that they have a good level of financial literacy. This figure has been declining sharply in recent years.

However, the number of families who keep records of income and expenses has increased (from 20% in 2015 to 42% in 2017). If you still do not do this, I recommend reading the article on our blog. She will dot all the i's.

Do you want to test your literacy? Don't be alarmed, there are only 4 questions. In 2013, 33% passed a basic financial literacy test. But in 2015, only 14% did so.

Financial literacy test

The test consists of 4 questions. Choose the correct answer in your opinion. I will give the correct answers at the end of the paragraph.

Question 1: Let's assume that you deposited 100,000 rubles into a bank account for 2 years at 8% per year. How much money will be in your account after 2 years if you don't make any withdrawals or deposits?

1. More than 108,000 rubles.
2. Exactly 108,000 rubles.
3. Less than 108,000 rubles.

Question 2: Let's assume that you deposited 100,000 rubles into a bank account for 5 years at 10% per year. Interest will be calculated annually and added to the principal amount of the deposit. How much money will be in your account after 5 years if you do not withdraw any principal or accrued interest from the account?

1. More than 150,000 rubles.
2. Exactly 150,000 rubles.
3. Less than 150,000 rubles.

Question 3: Let's say you see the same TV model on sale in two different stores. The initial price of the TV in each store was 10,000 rubles. One store offers a discount of 1,500 rubles from the original price, and another offers a 10% discount from the original price. What is more profitable - a discount of 1,500 rubles or 10%?

1. Discount of 1,500 rubles.
2. 10% discount.

Question 4: Let's assume that you took out a loan from a bank for a year in the amount of 10,000 rubles. Interest on the loan is 600 rubles per year. You must repay the loan and interest on it throughout the year in equal installments every month. Estimate approximately what the annual interest rate on your loan will be.

1. Less than 6%.
2. Exactly 6%.
3. More than 6%.

Now let's summarize. Correct answers:

• 1st question – more than 108,000 rubles;
• 2nd question – more than 150,000 rubles;
• 3rd question – discount of 1,500 rubles;
• 4th question – exactly 6%.

Did you manage? If yes, congratulations. You are great. If not, then urgently improve your literacy in handling money, because the questions were not simple, but very simple.

You can find many such tests on the Internet. There are foreign ones, and there are domestic ones. Big and small. You can train as much as you like. The main thing is to learn to apply the acquired knowledge in practice.

Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation Sergei Storchak in the Izvestia newspaper on October 5, 2017 announced the results of an international study. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) measured the level of financial literacy of participants from 20 countries. Russia is in 9th place. The leader, France, was only 2 points short. Not a bad result at all.

And the results among schoolchildren are even better. Over the course of 3 years of research, our Russian students rose from 10th to 4th place. They are ahead of the USA, the Netherlands and Australia. So our financial future is not dark at all.

Ways to eliminate financial illiteracy

Where to start improving your education level in finance? There are several methods, choose the one that seems optimal to you:

• Reading specialized literature. For example, I did good selection.

When I was preparing material from books, I had to read them all. I don't regret the time spent at all. Today, my husband and I have already developed a family strategy for saving money for short-term and long-term goals. We opened a deposit, invested some of the funds in a mutual fund, and some in an individual investment account. We will replenish deposits every month.

• View online lessons, paid and free.

By the nature of my activity, I rotate among information businessmen who organize similar courses. When choosing free classes, you must clearly understand that the main goal of any trainer is not to enrich you with their knowledge and experience, but to attract you to paid training. I'll be glad if I'm wrong.

• Personal consultation.

The consultant will develop for you a personal financial plan, savings and savings strategy, and much more. The services are not cheap. I looked at the price list on Vladimir Savenok’s website. He is the first independent financial consultant in Russia, who has written many books on this topic. I would be happy to schedule a consultation with him.

• Independent study of available materials on websites and blogs.

I’ll tell you more about trustworthy web resources in the next paragraph.

• Personal experience.

Not the best good way, but probably the most effective. This is the way of analysis own mistakes. Personal experience is priceless, but is there time to get it?

Resources to Improve Your Financial Education

There is a lot of information on the Internet and in print publications on filling gaps in matters of handling money. There are thematic websites, blogs, YouTube channels, online courses and entire schools.

It’s easy for those starting to learn the basics of finance on their own to get confused. Let's look first at proven sources of information that were created or with the support government agencies, or deserved fin. organizations:

• Fingramota.org

An educational website created with the support of the expert group on financial education at the Federal Service for Financial Markets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. It publishes a lot of useful material on finance. There are articles, videos and presentations.

• Banki.ru

The information portal publishes news, ratings of banks and banking products. You can select debit or credit cards. There are convenient calculators for calculating interest on deposits and loan payments.

• Fgramota.org

Finnish educational portal literacy with the support of the Russian economic school and the Citi Foundation. Knowledge of financial management is presented in a fun way in the form of a game, an online book, and tests.

• ABC of finance

The name itself contains the basic principle of the portal - studying the topic of finance from the very basics. There are examples of compilation personal finance s plans for families with different income levels. The valuable advice that experts give can be applied to creating your own plan.

• School of primary financial education FinStart

The school was created by Andrey Paranich, a member of the expert council on financial literacy and protection of the rights of consumers of financial services of the Bank of Russia. On the website you can access the FinStart Distance Learning Program for free.

It is designed for 2 months of daily classes at a time convenient for the student. The topics are quite interesting. For example, “Personal finance planning”, “Loans”, “Investments. The beginning of the journey”, etc.

Don't forget about the official sites:

• Bank of Russia,
• Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation,
• Federal Tax Service, etc.

More details about online education are discussed in the article about financial literacy courses.

Financial literacy for pensioners and schoolchildren

As part of the article, I would like to talk about such categories of citizens as schoolchildren and pensioners. Why is it so important to pay special attention to older people and involve them in learning the basics of financial literacy?

1. Pensioners are more likely than others to become victims of scammers, ranging from bank cards and ending up luring into dubious credit organizations.
2. They are generally conservative in their views on saving and have no investment skills at all. Therefore, large sums of money often lie at home, under the pillow, or, at best, in the bank at a very small interest rate, gradually losing their value.
3. They do not receive information about benefits on taxes, utility bills, changes in pension reform. Only word of mouth works.

For example, my mother accidentally learned information on social networks from other users about the exemption of pensioners from paying property taxes. She went to tax office, they confirmed it there, my mother wrote an application for benefits. But no one will return what she overpaid for previous years money. Like this...

And this is far from an isolated case when information is spread by word of mouth. The same disgrace is happening with the calculation of pensions. Someone said something, the pensioner rushes to the pension fund, they confirm that a recalculation is due, etc.

The pensioner himself must know and submit an application and documents for recalculation of his pension. No organization is responsible for informing pensioners. It is a disgrace on the part of the state to profit from pensioners’ ignorance of official sources of information.

We live in the age of information technology. Is it really impossible to make the necessary information more accessible? Social banners on the street, distribution through social networks from official government accounts. authorities, advertisements in banks, post offices, shops and clinics. Or save the state budget does it work only for pensioners?

A program of assistance in studying financial issues for pensioners must necessarily include the following points:

1. Informing everyone possible ways on tax benefits, utility bills and the required recalculation of pensions, on changes in tax and pension legislation.
2. Free seminars and online courses on financial literacy, where you should spend time on issues such as:

• rules for proper use of debit and credit bank cards;
• ways of deceiving citizens by financial fraudsters;
• Internet scammers and how to avoid falling for their tricks;
• paying for purchases and bills via the Internet;
• methods for calculating risk when lending;
• modern tools for preserving accumulated money from inflation and increasing it for your children and grandchildren.

I think it’s a simple excuse that it’s difficult to convey the necessary information to pensioners because they don’t know new information technologies at the proper level. Everyone has mobile phone, many communicate on social networks, postmen with pensions, social workers and doctors from the clinic come. Everything can be done if there is a desire.

With schoolchildren, no excuses work at all. These are the people who are most accessible to obtain information.

First of all, we, parents, need to understand one simple idea - we need to teach our children how to handle money from a very early age. It is not necessary to start doing this when he starts to have own funds(for example, a gift from a grandmother). Conversations about the fact that you can’t thoughtlessly spend everything you earn on buying an expensive toy or fashionable sneakers, like Petya’s, should always be held in the family.

Many people don’t understand me, but I pay my eldest daughter money to clean the house. She never had pocket money. But there are gifts from grandmothers for the holidays and hard-earned cash. And in the summer she already worked as a copywriter under my strict guidance. Do you think she spends money on fashionable things? Only for the most necessary. For example, to buy a phone. The rest is saved in a bank deposit.

Give your child the book “Mani, or the ABC of Money” by Bodo Schaefer to read. He, together with the heroes, learns how to earn, save and how to increase money.

When preparing the material for this article, I studied many sites that offer online lessons at home or at school. They were created with the support of our banking structures and government agencies. They are absolutely free, the benefits are obvious.

But what do I see in the examples of my daughters’ schools (they study in different educational institutions)? There is absolutely nothing. Why? What prevents students from applying and conducting lessons online? The answer is indifference.

There are several interesting resources for concerned teachers:

1. Project “Online financial literacy lessons. Professionals financial market they will come to every school.” The organizer of the project is the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Together with him, classes are taught by more than 50 lecturers from banking organizations, insurance companies, universities and government authorities in real time. Ask questions and answer questions from students.
2. A very interesting project “Be Friends with Finance” is being implemented by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. The partners are the Bank of Russia and the largest banking organizations. For children, information is presented in the form of comics, videos and tests.

Conclusion

Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation S. Storchak called the lack of discipline and responsibility for risks one of the problems of our population. And I agree with him. No amount of education will help if the basic rules of handling money are not regularly followed: accounting for your own income and expenses, planning family budget, saving. Developing these skills is not difficult, but understand why you are doing it.

Vladimir Savenok wrote in one of his books that in 99% of cases he knows why people save money:

• to live on interest;
• not doing what we are doing now;
• do what you love;
• protect your capital.

I'm definitely part of that 99%. And you?

Recently, work in this direction has acquired the character of a system for developing economic literacy, which is associated with the emergence of the “Financial Literacy” course and increased attention to economic issues in social science courses. Market relations require from a citizen both practical skills and a general culture associated with making responsible choices and resisting attempts to manipulate consciousness. The following strategic directions are seen here: conscious participation of schoolchildren in economic life society and their mastery of the role of the consumer, the optimal combination of the interests of society and the individual in choosing the sphere of future professional activity, increasing financial literacy to understand and accept responsibility in various economic situations. Human capital today is the key to success and prosperity for any country, regardless of the wealth of its natural resources and the development of its existing infrastructure. For the progressive development of Russia, people with high intelligence, developed logical thinking, capable of being in constant search, giving birth to new, original ideas in the process, and effectively carrying out economic activities are needed.
Economic literacy of a student will be understood as the success of acquiring, deepening, and expanding economic knowledge and skills at a basic educational level and their impact on the formation of qualities that help navigate the economic life of society, realizing their interests and coordinating them with the interests of the people around them. PISA defines financial literacy as the knowledge and understanding of financial concepts and risks, and the skill, motivation and confidence to apply such knowledge and understanding to make effective decisions in a range of financial contexts to improve a person's financial well-being. and society and to ensure participation in economic life. Another international study, the Quality of Civics Education (ICCS) study, also includes economic competence among the priority qualities of a modern citizen. In this case, it is not knowledge of theoretical principles that is tested, but an understanding of the ongoing economic processes and the place of an individual in them.
The problem of preparing an economically and financially literate individual has arisen in Russian education relatively recently, but the future of the country largely depends on its solution. The younger generation of citizens must not only understand the basic laws of the functioning of a modern market economy at different levels, but also have a set of qualities for effective business and consumer activity. To successfully participate in economic relations, a modern person must have access to financial services and understand how to use them. The potential of school economic education is also embodied in the formation of civilized human behavior, understanding and recognition of certain “rules of the game” in society, its value systems and orientations.
Research shows that modern young citizens of Russia are in dire need of knowledge that gives a general idea of ​​the personal economy, the economy of the family, the company and the state as a whole (including in the international sphere). At the same time, it is important to maintain a balance between theoretical knowledge and ideas about economic ethics, rules of financial behavior. In the National Study conducted in 2015 to assess the quality of civics education in Russia among 8th grade students from nine content areas covered test tasks, the lowest results were related to economic literacy and professional success. On average across the country, the following data were obtained on the success of schoolchildren in completing assignments according to their thematic and content areas: “Tolerance and diversity” - 65.19%; “Legal norms and human responsibility” - 51.15%; “Dignity and respect” - 49.00%; “Civic identity and patriotism” - 55.60%; “Social support, self-realization and personal success” - 58.52%; "Cooperation and peacefulness in modern world" - 55.96%; “Openness and readiness for change” - 53.84%; “Democratic governance and democracy” - 58.32%; “Economic literacy and professional success” - 40.74%. Thus, we can talk about a clearly visible problem area.
At the same time, some schoolchildren’s answers showed their poor understanding of the fundamental principles economic relations, as well as illiteracy in formulating one’s thoughts. For example, when explaining the concept of “inflation,” which most of the schoolchildren surveyed coped with successfully, the following definitions were also encountered: “lack of food and medicine in the country,” “over-voting,” “depreciation of people,” “excessive amount of money in circulation,” “birth rate.” reduced”, “they check the presence of amounts in banknotes”, “subordination to each other”, “this is something that disappears, for example, inflation of money”, “prices in stores are rising, but citizens do not”, “this is when money is not worth its value ", "price jumps", "a lot of money that can't buy (almost) anything", "excessive supply of money offered", "a fall in the value of something relative to related objects." Let us also give some formulations that explain the term “tax”: “repayment of debts for living”, “this is a type of money that every citizen of the Russian Federation pays”, “tribute that people must pay annually”, “collection of funds for the fact that we live” , “payment for special services”, “payment for civilized life”, “money that is given for various actions and for public utilities", "mandatory individual gratuitous payment", "repayment of a loan to the bank", "a fine that every person must pay."
Particularly surprising was the mixing of a market economy with a bazaar and fair, where things and products are sold. Rarely was there a correlation between the market and private property and entrepreneurship: “This is a market, everything there is organized for the not very rich,” “Even during the war, the market existed regardless of the state,” “After graduating from high school, many go there to work,” “On the market there are no state things, everything is home", "Market relations do not affect the economy", "The market is less successful than shops/supermarkets." Accordingly, the middle class is not associated with the presence of property, independence or a certain worldview, but is determined only by property status (availability of money). It is widely understood that the middle class refers to people who fall between the rich and the poor. This approach is clearly illustrated by the following quotes from the responses: “ Middle class dresses at the market”, “The poor want to buy, but cannot. The rich can, but they don't want to. The average ones can and want!”
That is why the special attention to financial literacy that has been demonstrated in recent years in the education system should be welcomed. The school must not only promptly and adequately respond to changes occurring in the economy and social life, but also get ahead of them, predict the needs of the coming years and respond flexibly to them in the topics discussed and educational projects being developed. The ability to think economically (not to be confused with economics) expands the capabilities of every person and provides a path to the future. One of the difficult pedagogical tasks in this direction is the ability to make informed and responsible choices.
It should be noted that economic knowledge is based on information about the methods of choice that a person constantly makes in conditions limited resources. One of the main tasks of economic training at school is to prevent the development of a dependent position, but to promote the formation of a full-fledged economically developed personality independent of anyone, capable of actively thinking and acting. In this aspect, we can talk about an integrated and meta-subject approach, when economic knowledge is combined with mathematical logic, understanding economic geography, rationalism and logical thinking, vision of historical and social features different countries peace. It is important that knowledge, skills, experience and relationships develop in the mode of active and interactive approaches when solving problematic practical situations that are maximally related to the daily life of the student. It can be complex projects(individual or collective), allowing students to become generators of ideas and plan their implementation, role-playing and business games that involve each student in interesting and useful activities. This is also indicated by the new federal state educational standards, which focus teaching on “mastering typical economic roles through participation in educational games and trainings that simulate real-life situations, which are provided by problematic situations, problematic questions and tasks, and the presence of business games.”
No one today has any doubts that an economically illiterate person is initially doomed to a more difficult life path; his decisions in many areas of public life will often turn out to be wrong. Therefore, the sooner a student understands the role of economics in his life, the more successful he will be in many areas of life and will become a competitive person, be a responsible citizen and be able to realize his needs to the maximum. It is impossible to imagine without economic literacy modern man, therefore the education system includes this area among its priorities modern school and results of teaching activities.

Andrey IOFFE, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor of Moscow State Pedagogical University and APKIPRO

Financial literacy - this is knowledge in the field of financial, credit, debt and savings management necessary for making financially responsible decisions that are an integral part of our Everyday life. This knowledge helps improve well-being and improve the quality of life. Financial literacy includes managing your income and expenses, as well as understanding how a payment card, credit card works and how to avoid debt. Overall, financial literacy impacts the daily choices the average family makes when trying to balance a budget, buy a home, fund children's education, and provide an income for retirement.

Take the initiative to educate yourself and develop your financial knowledge, starting with the basics of managing money and paying off debt. Investing your time in your financial development increases savings and investment decisions. By using resources such as age, talent, money and the ability to create good habits - you can build a long-lasting nest egg.

Why you need to improve your financial education

In past decades, money was used by the population for daily purchases. The process of purchasing goods has changed. Online shopping has become for many best choice, creating ample opportunities for the use and overuse of lending - it is too simple and quick way accumulation of debt. Banks and credit institutions issue credit cards and loan offers to consumers with tempting opportunities, and customers receive one loan after another and without proper knowledge or control of their purchases, it is easy to fall into financial bondage.

Lack of financial education affects all ages and all socioeconomic levels. Financial illiteracy causes many people to become victims of predatory lending, mortgage loans and high interest rates, which can lead to bad loans or bankruptcy.

Lack of financial literacy can lead to high levels of debt and poor financial decisions. For example, the advantages or disadvantages of an annuity and a graduated loan payment are differences that make it easier to understand whether you have financial literacy skills.

Financial literacy helps people become self-sufficient so they can achieve financial stability. Those who understand the item should be able to answer several shopping questions, such as whether the item is required, whether it is available, and whether it is an asset or liability.

Below is a list of basic financial literacy skills that everyone should master.

Learn to earn money

You cannot manage or spend your money until you have earned it. Therefore, first you need to earn money.

If you're struggling to earn enough... ask yourself:
where can you improve your financial situation?
Can you ask for a raise?
Do you need to stay longer at work to bring home a bigger paycheck?
Perhaps you can take another job in your spare time or start your own business.

Learn to effectively control and plan your budget

Start controlling your income and expenses. You must learn to draw up personal and family budgets and keep records of all finances. Celebrate all your daily financial operations(receipts and expenditures of funds). You can use anything for accounting, from a simple table in a notebook to an online tool to track your budget. Now there are many convenient services and mobile applications for controlling your money, for example: Easyfinance, Homemoney, Drebedengi, Zenmoney, etc. Thanks to this application, entering information about expenses and income has become very fast and convenient. If you do not want to trust this kind of information to various third-party services, you can use regular Excel.

Learn to save your money

Saving is not only a tool for achieving financial goals, but also an important aspect of financial preparedness in the event of an emergency or unexpected expense. It is recommended to have savings equal to at least 6 months of your salary so that if you lose your job or business you can survive. Make sure you include savingsmoneyto suit your needs on a separate line. This should be built into your monthly spending plan.

Learn to invest

Smart investments serve as a tool for saving and increasing the money you earn. Profitable investing should exceed the rate of inflation and provide the opportunity to retire much earlier or live for pleasure. Money should work and generate passive income, and not lie under the mattress.
It should be understood that investments are always associated with risks; these risks must be managed and diversified by investing in different financial instruments.

Learn to study

Improve your financial education so you know and understand how to reduce your loan and where to invest your money better, how to save on insurance, or how to choose a broker. Luckily, there are many resources, from books to blogs, that can help you on your journey to financial literacy

Financial literacy is what distinguishes a rich person from a poor one. Statistics say if a financially literate person does not have money, he will soon have it. And vice versa, If a financially illiterate person has money, he will soon lose it!

Why this happens and how to improve your financial literacy - read further in this article.

What is financial literacy and where is the border between literacy and illiteracy.

In simple terms, then financial literacy – is a sufficient level of knowledge and skill that allows you to make informed and effective decisions in various areas of personal financial management, such as savings, investments, real estate, insurance, tax and pension planning. Financial literacy also includes in-depth knowledge of financial concepts such as personal financial planning, compound interest, mechanisms of operation of credit instruments, effective savings methods, consumer rights, as well as an understanding of the relationships between various economic processes and events.

Lack of financial literacy can lead to unwise financial decisions that can have an adverse impact on a person's financial health and even send them into debt. Therefore, in developed countries, governments create special educational resources for people who want to become financially literate.

Modern research shows that financially literate people are more effective and successful in life, regardless of which country, in what positions and in what field they work. It is safe to say that knowledge of the basics of financial literacy helps improve the quality of life and has a positive impact on people’s well-being. That is why, financial literacy education affects everyone personally! I encourage all readers to take some time to improve their financial literacy.

Unfortunately, historically, the issue of financial literacy of the population in Russia has never received due attention. In the Russian Empire there was no other institution for teaching financial literacy other than the family. Therefore, wealth along with knowledge was passed down from generation to generation for centuries. During Soviet Union there was also no need to teach ordinary people financial literacy - salaries and pensions were established and guaranteed by the state, there was no risk of loss of income, and the number of financial instruments legally available to the people could be counted on one hand. Along with the advent of a market economy in Russia, the need arose for every market participant, every person, to understand economic processes.

The need to educate the population in financial literacy became obvious at state level only recently. Before this, many people managed to step on the rake of financial illiteracy and lose their savings in various financial pyramids, during the Russian default in 1998, due to the global financial crises in 2000 and 2008.

Nevertheless, the financial literacy of the majority of Russians and residents of post-Soviet countries still remains at an extremely low level, because there are catastrophically few qualified specialists capable of teaching people the basics of financial literacy. Fortunately, now on the Internet you can find enough information in the form of books, articles and publications and independently improve your financial literacy. Remember your well-being directly depends on the level of your financial literacy.

It's never too late to start studying in this direction. There are 5 simple ways increasing financial literacy accessible to everyone. Here they are:

1. Read special books dedicated to the basics and principles of financial literacy. For beginners, I recommend the following books as mandatory reading:

George S. Clason - "The Richest Man in Babylon."
Vladimir Savenok – “How to draw up a personal financial plan. The path to financial independence"
Vladimir Savenok – “How to implement a personal financial plan, or How much money is needed for happiness”

2. Read feature articles– many financial advisors, including yours truly, have their own blogs in which they share their “secret knowledge” about personal finance with a wide range of readers. You can read already published articles on my blog, and also subscribe to receive new articles by e-mail. This method of increasing financial literacy is good because it does not require much of your time. Finding 5-10 minutes during the day to study one article is not difficult even for the busiest people.

3. Play games that develop financial literacy.

There are various business simulation games, as well as investment activity simulators, which allow you to master the basics of personal finance and investment in an easy game form. This method of developing financial literacy is one of the most effective because it involves the practical application of skills and makes it possible to see and feel the results of their application almost immediately. Today the most famous and popular business simulator is the game “ Cash flow" There are both desktop and computer versions of the game. There are other online games that develop ideas " Cash flow", for example the game CashGO.ru. Among the investment simulators, we can highlight the service www.chartgame.com, which allows you to hone your investing and speculating skills on real historical charts of American stocks and compare the results of your trading with a passive investment strategy “buy and hold”.

Games allow you to test various assumptions and strategies in practice, while you can see the results of your actions almost immediately, and mistakes and failures do not affect your financial well-being. Therefore, developing financial literacy through games is a fairly effective and enjoyable way to teach financial literacy, which is suitable for both adults and children.

4. Attend seminars, webinars and courses to improve your financial literacy.

In this case, you need to pay attention to which institution or company conducts financial literacy courses. For example, seminars with similar names from some brokerages and banks have the real purpose of attracting you as a client and selling you their specific products, so they should be treated with some caution. But financial literacy courses organized by universities and independent financial advisors can be extremely useful. Especially if you don’t just listen to them, but start applying the tips and recommendations in your daily life.

5. Develop good financial habits.

For many people, developing just four healthy financial habits may be enough to change their financial situation for the better. These are 4 good habits:

Avoid debt and credit - live within your means
Start keeping track of your income and expenses. Plan your expenses for a month in advance.
Always immediately after receiving income, save and invest at least 10% of the amount received. And from the remaining money, pay for yours normal expenses, starting with the most important ones.
Always consult your financial advisor before investing in any project or investment vehicle.

I recommend trying this method of increasing financial literacy for yourself. It is not as simple as all the previous ones, as it requires more real effort from you and changes in your usual lifestyle. But you will immediately observe the effect of it: your well-being will increase along with the level of your financial literacy.

What skills does a financially literate person have?

1. Maintains a balance between consumption and investment.

Living well today while saving and investing enough money to ensure a comfortable standard of living in the future is no easy task. If you don’t save anything for the future, then a miserable, miserable pension from the state awaits you. If you save and invest to the maximum, and now live from hand to mouth “on bread and water”, you run the risk of not living to see that very “bright future” or paying too high a price for it - in the form of a hated past. Therefore, it is very important to maintain the “golden mean”, which will allow you to live comfortably now and no worse in the future.

2. Manages personal finances effectively. Plans income and expenses in advance.

Nowadays, there are various services for tracking income and expenses, for example Easyfinance, Homemoney, Drebedengi, Zenmoney etc. All of them allow you to literally enter information about expenses and income from your phone screen in just a couple of minutes a day. If you do not want to trust this kind of information to various third-party services, you can use regular Excel. You can use a template file for maintaining a personal or family budget.

It is important to plan expenses for the next month, as well as carry out analysis and compare the plan with the actual period. 30 minutes per month devoted to planning and analysis personal budget They allow you to find holes in your budget, determine where exactly the money is flowing, and make the right decisions to increase the amount of money in your wallet.

3. Sets clear financial goals and successfully achieves them.

Who among us does not like to dream about an expensive sports car, a house on the seashore, a yacht or financial independence. A goal differs from a dream in that it has specific deadlines for implementation, cost, priority and a host of other parameters.

For example, “I want a house by the sea” is dream, A " buy a two-story house with an area of ​​150 sq. meters with a garage and a swimming pool, two blocks from the sea on the southern coast of Spain, worth 250 thousand euros in 15 years“is a very specific financial goal. And if we start saving monthly right now and investing in reliable tools for stock market at 598 euros with a very moderate average return of 10% per annum, then in exactly 15 years we will achieve our goal and buy our house for 250 thousand euros.

4. Plans his future 10-20-50 years in advance and follows his personal financial plan

If you don't have a plan to become rich, then most likely you are planning to be poor. You just don’t realize it.” (R. Kiyosaki)

Personal financial plan (LPP)- it's your best friend and an assistant in realizing your financial goals. Those people who follow a personal financial plan are guaranteed to achieve financial well-being. Work with physical therapy is carried out in several stages:

Analysis and assessment of the current situation: Income and expenses, Assets and Liabilities.
Setting goals and determining specific actions for their implementation.
Selecting the right financial instruments for each purpose
Implementation of the plan.
Annual analysis of progress towards goals and adjustment of the plan.

5. Uses various financial instruments to achieve various goals.

Nowadays, there are hundreds of different financial instruments available to a wide range of people. All of them have different properties and parameters, such as profitability, reliability, stability, liquidity, recommended investment period, entry threshold, etc.

Obviously, it will not be possible to solve short-term financial problems with the help of long-term instruments - for example, if you know that you will need money within 3 months, you should not rush to buy an apartment or invest it in shares of a particular company - for short-term investment it is better to use bank deposits because they have maximum liquidity.

6. Has several sources of income.

Having just one source of income these days is very dangerous, especially if not only you, but also your loved ones depend on this source. In this case, you are putting yourself and your family at too much risk. When a person has several different sources of income, his life is much more comfortable. The feeling of stability, security and confidence in the future of your family is priceless. The benefits of creating new sources of income are also evidenced by the fact that as the number of different sources increases, the amount of money coming to you regularly increases, and therefore the standard of living and well-being increases. Financially literate people try to create 1 new source of income every year.

Now you know all 6 secret skills of financially literate people, which means you can implement them into your life and quickly improve your financial literacy.