Analysis of financial literacy tendencies with young people

Abstract

The following skills, such as planning of personal finances, formation and diversification of savings, augmentations of personal capital, and open-mindedness to new initiatives in the entrepreneurship activities, enhance the financial sustainability of the population, and are decisive for their life quality. Every person in certain circumstances can be financially and economically active, if s/he has got such competence as financial literacy which is much more important in the course of life than the level of income or professional qualifications, because, hereafter the governing factor will be not the possession of financial instruments by the person, but skills of effective management for the achievement of one’s own objectives.Knowledge of financial matters at a young age makes administration of finances much easier when becoming adult, getting education, or joining the labor market. At the same time the necessity of improving the financial literacy among young people and educating schoolchildren is more and more discussed. Taking into consideration the fact that young individuals are a significant factor for the development of national economy, substantial improvement of young people’s financial literacy is essential. Young people with a high level of financial literacy would be those who could give greater contribution to state economy, so it is important to research the level of financial literacy among young people. The objective of the present research is to analyze the financial literacy of young people in Daugavpils. Methods used in the research: monographic method – theoretical description of financial literacy, graphical method – graphical representation of obtained results, interview method (questionnaire) – data acquisition required for the research, statistical method – analysis of statistical information, comparative method – description of the obtained data and drawing conclusions. The financial literacy of Daugavpils youth has been researched and evaluated. The results of the questionnaires show that more than half of respondents have given good estimates of their financial literacy; however, at the same time research results prove that the overall level of financial literacy is not sufficiently high.