A recent report from the Financial Planning Australia found that over 60% of Australian parents think that digital money is making their children don't know about the true value of money. So whose responsibility to teach financial literacy to our kids? This question has still remained unanswered.
Ricardo Goncalves, SBS Financial Editor reports that Helen Lewis is one of many Australian parents who take their children financial literacy seriously. She gives her children pocket money according to their ages when they are helping with their household chores. They will also get extra money on top of daily chores if they help their family to do extra chores. She believes that her children may have to do many jobs or do contract works, therefore it is important that they know how to manage and handle their finances when it comes to mortgage or superannuation.
''There is a lot of pressure on teachers about the financial issue and it is quite unfair, parents also have a role to play along,'' says Lewis.
Laura Higgins, from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), also recommends that financial literacy should be made into Australia's national curriculum. So we can teach our kids to realize the true value of money, to solve problems and making decisions relating to money matter. ASIC's MoneySmart website has a lot of useful information and tips for Australians of all ages to help them to manage their financial issues. Moreover, Higgins also says that Australian teachers can also access this MoneySmart site to attend a standard learning and teaching module in and out of classrooms.
A stationary budget system has been implementing in Northern Beaches Christian School in Sydney to help students "taking more responsibility for the ownership of their materials, managing their budget and their money as well as know the value of money." And the result is very impressive.
Due to huge demands for financial literacy courses, non-governmental organisations, start-up businesses and banks have created their own different courses for this need. Apps are created by businesses so financial issues can be handled in real time.
Some would argue that today's economy is a digitized economy which is different from the past where people still use and handle cash and coins, therefore, children financial literacy is more crucial than ever. We need to prepare them for the present and into the future.
