Financial Literacy Assessment in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Financial literacy has become an interesting topic recently, given the global trends and the need for individuals to take responsibility for their personal finances and, in particular, for their retirement planning. In this paper we investigate financial literacy of adults in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our survey questionnaire is based on the OECD/INFE questionnaire, with some adjustments to national specificities. The method of research is the online survey.Looking at the results, our research overall shows rather low level of financial literacy of Bosnian citizens. In particular, low level of understanding and skills related to basic concepts, such as compound rate of return and diversification, indicate that there are many aspects of financial knowledge that could be improved. Financial knowledge and behavior of our sample is better positioned than the average in other countries. Due to worse attitude, the overall level of financial literacy is lower than the average in other countries. In addition, the analysis showed that attitudes towards the money are worse than the attitudes of citizens in other countries. Looking at at different levels of income, we notices no statistically significant difference in behavior and attitudes within different groups.The low level of financial literacy emphasizes the importance of introducing financial education at an earlier age, since the lack of financial education can cause people to start saving later in life, thus limiting required retirement goals. As a result, it is unlikely to achieve an optimal balance between current consumption during work and future consumption as individuals retire. In addition, the lack of information on the distribution of risk and return on various investments can lead to the misallocation of their pension portfolios.