Financial bravery of generation Z

Abstract

Since the economic crisis of 2008 and in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic, financial awareness has become increasingly important in Hungary. The Government's "Developing Financial Awareness" strategy launched in 2017 underlines this. According to the mission of this strategy, financial literacy and the proper acquisition of financial knowledge are essential for people to make informed, considered, and rational decisions about their finances. This motivation led us to carry out a questionnaire survey on financial literacy among students enrolled in the 2020 Hungarian Higher Education in Economics and Business, and in this study, we present a snippet of the results. After a theoretical approach to financial culture, financial knowledge, and financial advice, the study focuses on the dimensions of financial knowledge and financial advice among the 11 dimensions of the survey. Unconventionally, financial knowledge was assessed based on respondents' self-assessment and this was compared with the results of research conducted by others. The questionnaire was completed by 3 315 students between 29 November 2020 and 31 October 2021. The analysis focused on the responses of respondents aged between 18 and 25, i.e. members of Generation Z. After cleaning, 3 020 questionnaires were included. We found that, comparing perceived financial knowledge with willingness to give advice, the majority had average (medium) financial knowledge, but were nevertheless willing to advise others on financial matters.