Spending Valuable Time on Financial Education
Originally published in Best Practice Autumn 2015 issue
Research by the Money Advice Service maintains that adult habits around money can be formed as early as the age of seven. And in this fast evolving technical age, where the whole, traditional transaction of purchase is often unseen (just look at iTunes and Uber), Visa Europe believes that teaching young people money management is more essential than ever.
For the international payments giant, the focus is very much on digital money skills. A light bulb moment for Nick Jones, head of digital communications & corporate responsibility, was when he heard a presentation given by a child psychologist who said that children these days are more likely to engage more with plastic toy money during their kindergarten days than with actual hard cash when they grow up. With contactless and digital payments being the way forward, it’s difficult for young people to learn the true value of money when they don’t physically see or touch the money involved in the transaction, he believes.
