Financal Literacy for students

Finanacal Literacy is one of the most important life skills that everyone should have, including students. Although this is not taught in school, I feel that it should have been a subject taught in school.

These days, most students spend more than they can save, sometimes they even exceeded their pocket money. My parents use to tell me to always save for a rainy day, which is true since life is always unexpecting. But, I have to admit it is hard to have the determination to save money due to factors like peer pressure, temptations etc. I use to spend a lot of money when i was young, especially on toys. My thinking used to be like if something costs 100 dollars, it is only 2 50 dollar notes. Only when I grow up, then I realised things are not so simple.

Managing your money is one of the things we would all do in future as more and more burdens fall onto our shoulders. Nobody would want to be in debts, everyone wants to live a carefree life. However, due to lack of financal literacy and money management skills, more and more people are getting tied to debts after coming out for work. These people would spend money paying off endless debts.

Just like the saying goes, don't work for your money, let your money work for you. Never become a slave to debts.

Some countries like China started teaching their students about financal literacy. I feel that Singapore should also teach it to students. This is an important life skill, you would need it even till the day you die. It is the same thing like teaching moral values in school through moral education. If we can manage our money well, life would become more smoother for us.

Some people may disagree with me. If a person is rich, he or she may feel that why do I need to know financal literacy when I am loaded? Even if my parents are gone, I still have the inheritance. Sad to say, they will squander it all off even before they even know it. Ironically, even you are rich, you still need to know financal literacy and money management skills to get the most out of this huge amount of money.

It may seem boring but essential. Think about it. Nobody wants to hear a 1 hour lecture on moral values too. It is for life.