Financial Education Initiatives in Malaysia: Comparison with 5 Countries

Abstract

This paper compares the financial education initiative implemented by Malaysia under its national strategy for financial education with five developed and emerging economies who have implemented and/or revising their national strategy for financial education. This discussion is important given that how much knowledge an individual have affects how well he understand and manage his personal finances. This would influence his savings accumulated during his working years to be spent during old age. As the world population is ageing and that more people are living longer, saving adequately for old age is a general must. Past research posit that individuals were not saving enough for their old age and therefore need to save more. Financial literacy through financial education has been acknowledged as an important determinant of retirement savings and retirement investment. Increasing financial literacy through financial education increases an individual’s capability to plan, manage and protect his old age savings. The financial education initiative should encompass a curriculum to prepare an individual to manage all financial activities required throughout their lifecycle. This paper explores the strategy adopted in terms of the setup of the leading authority, use of baseline in developing the financial education curriculum as well as the curriculum implemented by Malaysia and five developed and emerging economies. The study aims to learn from other countries the approach adopted to implement the financial education initiative as well as serve as reference for other developing countries who wishes to plan and implement their own national strategy.