Ethics and Responsibility in education: the importance of financial literacy

Money matters are perceived differently across the age groups as different needs arise at certain points in one’s life. This article will look at how financial literacy can be viewed during our childhood, teenage years and early twenties, providing some examples from my own life experiences.

As a child (from 5-11 years) we don’t know much about the impact or importance of money. This is because our exposure to money was limited to having our parents or guardians provide for our needs and wants to their best ability. We believed the world is a big box of unlimited toys, food (which was hardly finished at times) and adventures.

Now as children, we may have seemed oblivious to money but in some cases when they are introduced to the primary functions of these copper coins and paper notes, they are able to make significant decisions that can change their spending/demanding behaviour. For example, a child that is exposed to how money functions and wants a new toy truck is more prone to start saving towards the toy truck rather than spend their pocket money on candy during lunch breaks. In my case, I was keen on spending my savings on strawberries which were found in only one farm. Most of the remaining money was either exchanged for paper notes or spent by my brother who convinced me to get more strawberries and sweets for the both of us.

But can what we learned as children still prepare us for our next stages in life?

Is it still viable to use just saving methods to get what you want and does discipline play a much bigger role in our development?

In this case, it may be better to agree because what we learn from a young age grows with us over the years even if some habits fall away. Our teenage years are a time when we may often try to be in control of our own lives, even though we are still living under our guardians’ roof.

At this stage, money is more important to us as it can grow our popularity or make us invisible towards our peers.

Although often there aren’t any serious responsibilities which need to be considered (this applies to individuals who may come from middle income to higher-income households, those from lower-income households will have a very different story to tell), we start to be exposed to the need for getting a job, selling products such as snacks and sweets, or even asking for a bigger allowance if possible. Our guardians would need to let us learn from our money mistakes in this case and step back a bit in order to make space for us to learn. It could represent the perfect time for young people to learn how to implement discipline on their spending behaviour – if they consume their monthly allowance within a week, then they would have to survive the next 3 weeks without a supplement – due to the higher influence of peer activities and wanting to ‘fit in’, better known as the fear of missing out (FOMO). Guardians would also need to pay close attention to the friends who surround their children, as well as the lifestyle their children are living as when rules are strict, young people tend to seek freedom through rebellion, which may make them search for inappropriate methods of earning an income (e.g. selling drugs).

The early twenties must be the most experimental and adaptive point of our lives.

We want to find ourselves and get to realize what really works for us. This is where responsibility follows us to the brim, especially when you live in an apartment or dormitory. Now living in a completely adult world of paying rent, buying groceries and having a budget for leisure spending (e.g. parties, takeout, clothing) while trying to manage our studies with high grades, money here becomes a vital pick-and-choose scenario of either buying that thick textbook for chemistry, or else using the money for those new sneakers at your favourite store.

Bargaining and comparative buying may help in making the right decisions, for example instead of getting a brand-new textbook, try looking for pdf’s or a second-hand version. This can help open us to comparative buying which saves us money while meeting our most important needs. Meanwhile, we should not overlook the importance of budgeting for our basic responsibilities and certain goals (like that Nike Air Force 1 sneaker). Each mistake made can dent our ego, but it grows our experience and we become wiser in our choices especially in relation to spending, while we seek other income-generating methods such as investing to grow our generational wealth objectives.

All these phases are linked through seeing, learning, experiencing and making mistakes, all of which are practiced in everyday life.

We become what we frequently spend on.

Author:

Mokgaetji Margueritte

Article Writer & Content Contributor

March 6, 2020

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The opinions expressed in this article/publication are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of GiLE or its members.