Over 14 pct of young Romanians know little to nothing about finance, says JA Romania

A study by Junior Achievement Romania (JA Romania) has found that over 14 percent of Romanians aged between 14 and 45 are financially illiterate, while 65 percent have difficulties or fail to cover their daily financial needs.

This has led to the launch of BaniIQ project by JA Romania in 2012, designed to support the training of informed and independent young generations, who can easily adapt to a changing financial environment. The project is a collaboration between Visa Europe and its partner banks, the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research, the UN Development Programme and the National Agency for Consumer Protection.

More than 140,000 students have taken part in the training that includes theoretical concepts and includes case studies of financial planning, organizing personal budget, savings, investments, risk and financial instruments.

According to a survey conducted at the beginning of the program, young people aged between 16 and 19 years are vulnerable where finances are concerned, especially due to a lack of information. Over 90 percent of participants said they rely on family when they need to information about finance or to plan their budget, while more than 50 percent do not know basic financial terms. Only 39 percent of young people offered an acceptable definition for how to use your credit card or other loans, while 10 percent think that the grace period of a credit card is a period of unlimited free shopping.

The training program was conducted by JA Romania based on a learning by doing methodology, adapted to the economic environment in Romania and enriched with real-life examples and practical activities. Concepts such as revenues, expenses, taxes, savings, credit, debit, mortgage, Euribor, maturity, bonds and others were explained to students in an understandable manner with the help of banking consultant volunteers who participated in the program.