Our education system definitely needs immediate reforms. Not only in terms of the content of the subjects being taught in schools and colleges, but also in terms of other important life skills that our children need to learn, but have been greatly neglected.
One question that really bothers me as a parent and who has been in the area of financial literacy for the last eight years is why we are not being taught money management skills. While we are teaching children to study well to secure a good future, we need urgent intervention to teach some basic life skills like financial skills. Unlike in the past, we interact with money at a much younger age (think online shopping, hanging out with friends, etc.)
This Teacher’s Day, let’s take a look at this aspect that is much overlooked as it has neither become a part of the dinner table conversation nor a part of the formal education system. We see a huge amount of financial stress caused by poor financial planning to the people around us (and according to various studies). In a world of constant noise via social and electronic media, an incentive-driven finance industry and a lot of “market gurus” and FinInfluencers who pay for promos under the guise of educational information, we can clearly see where the problem lies. While some financial institutions conduct some of these investor education sessions, it is usually incomplete and unstructured.
So what serious issues are people facing today?
– No formal education on how to plan one’s financial journey.
Borrowing due to lack of proper goal-based planning.
-Not accounting for high inflation and therefore falling short when making these plans (for example when planning a child’s education goal, which is usually around 18 years away, people don’t keep education inflation in double digits Education is a goal that cannot be put off and hence people take on huge student loans.)
– The FOMO (fear of missing out) created by the real estate industry and lending institutions about the importance of owning a home is paying large amounts of interest over the long term, preventing people from making the right kind of investments. is disturbing.
– Inadequate or insufficient insurance.
Lack of diversification of assets. Therefore, most of the household income goes to real estate, gold and fixed deposits. There seems to be a fear of financial assets and therefore a “safe haven” is the first option.
Credit card overuse and late payments.
Poor or no retirement planning. Today a 60-year-old is looking forward to another potentially 30, or 40 years of zero income amid growing health care needs.
—Many women neglect family finances because they believe it is a male domain or because they think it is difficult to understand.
Many youths are encouraged to take a home loan as soon as they start earning or try to save tax as soon as the first pay check arrives in their account.
Lifestyle spending has increased as aspirations not only in urban India but also in rural India and first generation graduates and employees have opened up a whole new world.
On this Teacher’s Day, let us teach our youth an important life skill – money management skills – and in the process we ensure that it is not only the good job offered by you or the amount earned by you that matters for your future. will determine prosperity. A sound knowledge of some basic financial skills will go a long way in ensuring a more prosperous, debt-free life.
What we hear as a constant avoidance as children stays with us into adulthood. So, this Teacher’s Day, let us take a serious look at the problems our children are facing and how quickly India’s demographic dividend can turn into a demographic disaster if we tackle this issue of teaching every student an important life skill. do not deal.
Preeta Wali is the co-founder of Pay It Forward.
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