It's never been easier to spend or invest money nowadays, compared to just 10 or 15 years ago. In year 2020 we have open markets, online shopping, numerous investment opportunities (from modern, cutting edge technologies like Bitcoins and P2P money lending platforms, to more traditional and tested stocks, shares and Forex), and almost everything is available under your fingertips via mobile technologies. On the other hand, we have an expansive banking sector and short-term loan companies that offer financing opportunities with (often) poorly understood by the general public. In Europe, virtually every adult citizen has to operate with money in some capacity. Free movement and trade opportunities in the EU are also encouraging transnational contacts and exchange, but very few people are familiar with the ins and outs of foreign country’s financing. We should take into consideration all the young people, studying abroad, and having to manage their own finances. Unfortunately, the topic of financial literacy is absent from many school curricula. A 2012 Eurobarometer survey on retail financial services, noted by the European parliament (https://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/finservices-retail/docs/policy/eb_special_373-report_en.pdf), demonstrated that many consumers do not receive advice when purchasing financial products or services, but when they do, they tend to rely on the product provider. According to the results of the same study, 52% of consumers tend to take the first product they see when obtaining a current bank account or a credit card and over 80% of consumers never try to switch providers after having chosen their personal loan, a credit card, a current account or a mortgage provider. An analysis (2015) of several World Bank specialists also shows that financial literacy is not always a given even in the developed countries. According to their findings, most of the EU citizens will not call themselves “financially literate”, which is apparent in South Europe. This is very relevant to current proposal, as financially literate citizens is partners’ countries are as follows: Bulgaria - 35% Greece - 45% Cyprus - 35% Slovenia - 44% Belgium - 55% Spain - 49% Italy - 37% (https://gflec.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/3313-Finlit_Report_FINAL-5.11.16.pdf?x22667) The most recent analysis (2018) of the Brussels-based economic think-tank Bruegel shows similar numbers across EU member states. It is evident that along the years financial literacy is not improving at the rate at which financial instruments are becoming available for the general public. The increased mobility, especially in the new member-states, gives a lot of opportunities but also hides risks for financially illiterate individuals, including not only students and young people, but also the elderly and people from all ages, who are deciding to change their place of residence and work. (https://www.bruegel.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/PC-08_2018.pdf) Based on those findings, we are aiming to reach people with low financial skills, among which low-income individuals, women, young people and less educated, older adults, and other disadvantaged groups. The project will produce tailored training content on the most relevant topics of financial literacy, providing real life-oriented knowledge and crucial financial competences. This content will cover a series of courses, based on the understanding of the problems in the target groups and will be later transferred on an online training platform, where it will be easily accessed by the larger public. The project will answer the need for methodological tools for teaching this complicated topic in an accessible language and will increase trainers' competences with respect to active usage of digital tools and gamification elements. In order to achieve greater long term impact and better transferability of project results, the consortium will develop a FINMAN blueprint for cooperation to engage all relevant stakeholders in order to improve financial literacy education and make it accessible for all. In order to guarantee proper coverage of end-users' needs, both face to face and online pilot tests will be conducted in order to test the content and get participants' feedback. During them, trained experts will also consult and advise people on specific issues/upon demand. In addition, a database of financial specialists will be created, to whom end-users address in need of consultations well after the end of the project. Thus the project will enable the target groups to navigate more easily through the constantly changing markets, taking better, well-informed and more responsible decisions. As a direct result of the project, we expect to train 16 consortium members to be able to deliver the course to learners; 210 participants in the face-to-face pilot trainings, 80 participants in the online pilot training, 80 financial experts to become part of the online database and be reachable later on.
The main objectives of FINMAN projects are: Increased financial literacy of target groups- people with low financial literacy ( including unemployed, young people under 30, elderly people and people with low education level, NEETs women) Creation of tailored made training content answering the most pressing needs of the broad target group; Feasible and easy access to training contents via the online platform for all interested parties - people with low financial literacy and adult trainers and educators; Encouragement of business activity by providing basic financial management skills; Improvement of trainers expertise on delivering practice oriented and up to date training content on financial literacy; Raised awareness of financial literacy and its importance for the everyday life of each citizen. Easy and improved access to finance consultancy service (bringing together experts and end users encouraging communication between them via online database; To develop a model for basic training in financial skills which can be replicated and adapted to different training environments.
In Europe, virtually every adult citizen has to operate with money. Understanding financial issues is a complex undertaking, not just for the young people, but for everyone. However, those topics are mostly absent from school curriculum in European countries. FINMAN project strives to solve the issue with low financial literacy among EU citizens by addressing their needs of easy to understand and practical education content which can lay the basis for better understanding of financial matters in one broad perspective. Financial literacy matters for the EU for several reasons: - The pressure on the pension system required more wise and responsible decisions on personal level which required financial literacy. - Mortgage debt makes up an overwhelming share of total debt of euro-area households. Understanding the implications of debt problems is especially important for young households, first-time homeowners and those with lower than average incomes - Low financial literacy is associated with poverty, inequality, social exclusion and social immobility Therefore, financial literacy can help access the benefits of economic growth and contribute to the inclusive growth agenda in the EU.