It’s never too early


“Money makes the world go round” goes the song from Cabaret, yet teenagers learn surprisingly little from school about managing personal finance. flow reports on an initiative in Germany that is addressing this education gap


C


an I afford to buy this new video game with my pocket money? Is it worth putting money aside and,


if so, what’s the best way to save for old age? Many 15-year-olds struggle to answer questions such as these, an OECD survey on financial literacy, published in 2020, found. Around 117,000 teenagers from 13 countries took part in a test to evaluate their knowledge and skills relating to money matters. The assessment addressed topics such as dealing with bank accounts and debit cards, understanding interest rates on a loan and choosing between a variety of mobile phone plans. The results were sobering: one in seven 15-year-olds was unable to make even simple decisions on everyday spending. Moreover, on average across OECD countries, only about one in three students had the skills to interpret a bank statement, the report showed. While Germany did not participate in this test, it is unlikely that it would have scored much better. This is because the country lacks a national strategy for financial literacy, as Dirk Loerwald, Professor for Economic Education at the University of Oldenburg, pointed out in a January 2022 guest contribution for the Association of German Banks. “Possibly, this reservation is due to the widespread misunderstanding here that financial education is a special form of education that is relevant only for people working at investment banks, in wealth management, at accounting firms or for other financial market participants. But this is a fallacy,” he wrote. According to Loerwald, financial education is “a basic competence” that “allows for a reflected participation in society, economy and politics”.


88


Talk, don’t teach This is where the initiative ‘So geht Geld’ (translated as ‘How money works’) comes in. The project helps young people to acquire financial proficiency and gain a better understanding of economic connections. When invited by teachers, Deutsche Bank employees go into schools to talk to teenagers about the history of money, raise awareness of what affects their purchase behaviour and explain how everything from individual loans to the global financial system works. “Going forward, we’ll put even more emphasis on the financial education of the next generation,” pledged Christian Sewing, CEO of Deutsche Bank, in May 2021 during his Sustainability Deep Dive. “From this year on we will ask senior managers to liaise with schools of their choice and offer them lessons on financial literacy: 350 of our colleagues in Germany have already registered for our initiatives on financial education – let’s double our ambition to 700


colleagues by the end of 2022 and aim for each of them to give at least one lesson on financial literacy per year.” “A lack of financial knowledge can become a real problem for young people,” adds Suzana Schäfer, who is responsible for financial literacy programmes at Deutsche Bank within the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) department. “A lax handling of money and credit can lead young people into a debt trap.” Therefore, Deutsche Bank experts help to organise school lessons that teach pupils how to be responsible with money. To reassure schools and parents of its neutrality, Deutsche Bank has developed the programme in cooperation with the education agency YAEZ, which – together with the Association of German Banks – has also prepared the teaching materials. Launched in 2019, ‘So geht Geld’ is aimed at pupils starting from Year 5 at all types of school. Since the beginning of 2021, around 380 lessons took place in Germany. “It’s great to see how teenagers start to


We want to


empower teenagers to make suitable financial decisions right now and as adults


Ingo Ottmann, Regional Head Commercial Clients Hessen South, Deutsche Bank


think differently about topics like savings or banks when it relates to their lives,” says Ingo Ottmann, Regional Head Commercial Clients Hessen South, Deutsche Bank. “It’s important to let the pupils talk about topics that matter to them – like buying a smartphone or the latest video game – rather than us doing dull teaching of economic issues.” Ottmann is one of the 950 Deutsche Bank employees who have signed up to the programme so far. “I believe it is necessary to learn how to deal with money as soon as possible. I have two kids and I recall my own time at school when financial education didn’t really play a role,” he says. “We want to empower teenagers to make suitable financial decisions right now


Photography: St. Marien Gymnasium Regensburg, Germany


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92