In the past I’ve been one to account some of New Zealand’s economic woes (high consumer spending, high consumer debt, dodgy investing practices et al) to a lack of financial literacy. I’ve posted about it a few times like here and here and here and here!
Well blow me down with a feather, in my inbox this morning was news of;
the release of the new school curriculum which incorporates a strengthened focus on developing students’ financial capability.
Securities Commission (the crowd behind the initiative) member Annabel Cotton says the Look Learn Invest website “draws a lot of material together in one place”.
“It’s covering the basics of what we think smart investors do before they commit their money.”
The site can be seen here.
Unfortunately their expertise is limited:
“When you invest the bank uses your money to lend to someone else at a higher rate of interest than they are paying you”
This is, of course, completely untrue. Bank’s create money into existence via loans.
This type of website is useful to a point but not what you are really talking about.
We need to teach children about money, its origins, uses, forms and processes. Teaching them about financial “products” is like teaching a child to do cartwheels before it can crawl.
There is very little explanation of default or credit issues or how financial institutions actually operate.
I am looking forward to seeing what they propose to teach children in the new curriculum!