Save, Spend, Share – a mantra just for adults? Absolutely not! Faculty members from the School of Accounting and Finance (SAF), Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) have gone further to advocate financial literacy and ingrain good spending habits amongst children too.

Financial literacy is the ability to save financial resources for different purposes. Being financially literate helps in commitment to on-time payments, managing expenses, and saving up for a milestone. As such, creating awareness of financial literacy as early as possible is crucial to ensure a “financially literate” future generation.

Both our staff from APU waved their financial wands to magically surprise the children from Sri Dasmesh International School (SDIS) on the 20th of April 2023.

Intending to create a financially literate future generation, Ms Kavitha Arunasalam and Mr Gunaseelan Kannan, faculty members from SAF, conducted a workshop to share financial literacy among children at the early age of nine. That included how to spend wisely the allowances given by parents which the kids probably earned as payment for doing chores.

This programme was guided by Associate Professor Dr. Chong Lee Lee, the Head of SAF.

Objectives of the programme:

1. Expose children to 3S in Financial Literacy – Safe, Spend and Share.
2. Explain the concept of income, expenses and saving to the children.
3. Illustrate the difference between the concepts of needs and wants to the children.
    

The mini workshop began with a quick and simple explanation of the programme objectives. The children were thrilled and excited with the engaging activities especially when they had to differentiate between needs and wants. Students who understand responsible choices at an early age will be able to make informed financial decisions in the future.

About 100 students participated in this mini workshop with enthusiasm and they were excited to be responsible for managing their money. This initiative is a starting point where SAF is looking forward to more opportunities to share the concept of financial literacy.

In conclusion, financial literacy is an essential life skill that should be instilled in children from an early age. SAF looks forward to creating more opportunities to share the concept of financial literacy with young learners.