JA-YE Europe Survey

Attitudes to Personal Finance and Financial Capability

The financial crisis has raised concerns about what we know about managing and being
responsible for our finances. Recently, there have been many news stories about how
people around the world are overstretching themselves financially. JA-YE Europe
believes it is important that students, as future employees and entrepreneurs,
consumers, parents and citizens can gain a better understanding of financial capability
while they are still at school.

In March 2010, 1249 Europeans completed the JA-YE Europe Financial Literacy survey
to find out what they think about financial capability – these are the main findings.

What do people think ‘Financial Capability’ means?

Who do people turn to for advice?

Most people turn to their bank (65%) or a family member (64%) for personal
finance help and advice. More respondents cited a family member as their first
choice.

Who should be responsible for educating young people about financial

management issues?
Teachers and parents were most commonly identified in respondents’ top three ranks for
who should be responsible for educating young people on these issues. Whilst
teachers were ranked in the top three by 71% of respondents, compared with 68%
for parents, the proportion of 1st place rankings for parents was notably higher
(ranked first by 38% of respondents, compared with 25% for teachers).
Banks were ranked in the top three by 29% of respondents. Only 14% of respondents
felt that Government should be most responsible for this.
Who is responsible for making sure people borrow money sensibly?
Respondents felt that banks have a larger part to play in this respect than the other roles
or organisations included as options. 65% of respondents ranked banks in their top
three, 27% ranked banks in first place.

We asked people how much knowledge they think young people have about
managing their personal finances?
A clear majority (78%) of respondents stated that they think young peoples’
knowledge of their own personal finances is ‘little’, ‘next to none’ or ‘none at all’.
20% responded ‘a fair amount’ or ‘a great amount’.

How important is it that young people learn about financial management whilst
they are still at school?
Nearly all respondents (97%) felt that this was quite important or very important.

We asked participants how desirable it would be for them to one day run their
own business?
A clear majority (67%) of respondents said they would find it desirable to one day
run their own business. 43% said it was highly desirable. As one respondent
explained “being your own boss is something that almost every person dreams of but if
someone wants to have their own business then they should be very well prepared from
the financial point of view.”

Has opinion of the financial services sector changed since the onset of the
recession?
A small minority (8%) of respondents felt that their opinion of the financial
services sector had changed positively since the onset of the recession.

37% said that their opinion had not changed, whilst 36% of respondents’ opinions
had changed for the worse. One respondent wrote “before the crisis I thought the
banks were more moral, taking more responsibility for the financial situation of countries,
not only trying to increase profits.”

Of the 1249 people surveyed, 764 have participated in a Junior Achievement –

Young Enterprise programme.
62% agreed either slightly or strongly that the programme had ‘taught them how
to manage their money better’.

88% agreed either slightly or strongly that ‘the programme was a good connection
between school and the world of work’. 80% agreed either slightly or strongly that ‘the
programme made school more interesting’.
JA-YE Europe (www.ja-ye.org) is Europe’s largest provider of entrepreneurship
education programmes, reaching 3.1 million students in 38 countries in 2009. Funded by
businesses, institutions, foundations and individuals, JA-YE brings the public and private
sectors together to provide young people in primary and secondary schools and early
university with high-quality education programmes to teach them about enterprise,
entrepreneurship, business and economics in a practical way. The JA-YE Company
Programme is recognised by the European Commission Enterprise Directorate General
as a ‘Best Practice in Entrepreneurship Education’. JA-YE Europe is the European
headquarters for JA Worldwide.