How can you recognise dubious financial offerings? How can you protect yourself against investment fraud? How can young people learn how to make good financial decisions? These questions were the focus of today’s 3rd Financial Literacy Breakfast Meeting hosted by the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) and Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU)’s Center for Financial Education. This joint initiative strives to bring evidence-based, practical financial knowledge directly into the classroom.
“Financial literacy is a life skill. It provides young people with the knowledge and tools they need to make informed financial decisions. Understanding money allows you to make your own decisions rather than leaving them to others,” commented FMA Executive Director Mariana Kühnel. “Financial fraud is becoming ever more frequent, and young people are confronted on social media with tempting promises about making a quick profit. This makes it even more important to assess offerings with a critical eye.”
Bringing the FMA’s practical expertise to classrooms
The FMA’s cooperation with the WU’s Center for Financial Education over the last three years has connected experience from supervision and consumer protection with academic and educational expertise.
“Today, understanding economic and financial matters is key for being able to make informed decisions and to participate fully in society,” remarked WU Rector Rupert Sausgruber. “As a university for economics and business, we consider it important to share such knowledge with society at large. We are therefore particularly pleased about the FMA’s initiatives to strengthen financial education from an early age, starting in schools.”
They include insights obtained from around 65,000 complaints and enquiries received by the FMA Consumer Information team that highlight where problems and knowledge gaps exist in the financial market. Such experiences are included in the FMA’s information series “Reden wir über Geld” (Let’s talk about money), which explains relevant financial issues in a clear and practical manner.
“The Center is currently preparing teaching materials based on selected editions of ‘Reden wir über Geld’”, added Bettina Fuhrmann, Director of the Center for Financial Education. “This is how we create teaching resources for teachers to use in lessons, such as presentations, worksheets and ideas for school projects.”
The FMA is also placing its financial literacy offerings on platforms where young people get their information from. “Reden wir über Geld” is also active on Instagram. In the FMA’s “1 Minute – 1 Begriff” (“a term explained in a minute”) video clip series, FMA staff members working in supervision explain financial terms clearly and concisely.
The initiative with the WU has reachedaround 100 schools and around 12,000 school pupils over the last three years. The topics that have already been covered in lessons have included investment fraud, phishing, romance scams, “buy now, pay later”, finfluencers, crypto-assets, ETFs, shares, online payments as well as the basic investment rules.
Recognise investment fraud, before you lose money
The 3rd Financial Literacy Breakfast Meeting’s thematic focus was on financial scams. Social media and digital channels are increasingly being used to target consumers with fraudulent investment offerings. Apparent success stories, celebrity endorsements, finfluencers or invitations to groups on popular messaging services are used to instil confidence, and frequently boast quick profits.
“Don’t be taken in by likes, celebrities or a quick profit. If something appears too good to be true, you should remain particularly vigilant. Our most important tip is to always check everything before you invest,” Kühnel stated.
Experts from the FMA, WU and the Criminal Intelligence Service Austria highlighted the phenomenon from various perspectives at the event. In addition to the current forms of scams and investigative work, the key issue was how school pupils can recognise scams for themselves.
More options also require greater personal responsibility
New options emerging for investing money and old-age provision require more personal decisions as well as greater personal responsibility. Good examples include the planned <strong>Zukunftsdepot or the new options for pension and corporate provision companies. At the same time young people are confronted with consumer loans and payment in instalments at an ever earlier age, and increasingly through digital channels (“Buy now, pay later”). New rules will also apply for consumer loans in the future to strengthen consumer protection.
Clear consumer information is becoming increasingly important for the FMA. Regulation and supervision can create a trusted framework. However the financial decisions that people take in this framework depend strongly on whether they understand and weigh up the opportunities, costs and risks involved.
“Money is a constant companion through every phase of life and we will have to make financial decisions for ourselves even more often in the future. Talking openly about money, at school, at home and in society is essential. By talking about money you are also talking about the future,” Kühnel added.
Journalists may address further enquiries to
Boris Gröndahl (FMA Media Spokesperson)
Telephone: +43/(1)249/59-6010
Mobile: +43 676 8824 9995
E-Mail: [email protected]