The result of the study: There is room for improvement when it comes to financial education in Germany. The gap between the supposed knowledge about investments, inflation and compound interest and the factual knowledge is huge. 79.7 percent of those surveyed rate their financial education as fairly good to very good. But in fact, in the study, they achieve on average just half (10.7 points) of a total of 20 possible points for financial education.
“We have to give young people in particular better financial knowledge,” says Prof. Dr. Johannes Treu, Professor of General Business Administration and Economics at the IU International University. The school should create a basic understanding. In addition, digital and qualitatively tested offers are needed in order to receive understandable information.
Just under half of those surveyed (49.2 percent) feel financially literate through their school education, for example in subjects such as economics or social studies. However, nine out of ten respondents (89.3 percent) say they continue to educate themselves when it comes to financial issues. They rely primarily on the family for this: 41.3 percent of those surveyed named this source of financial knowledge most frequently. In Generation Z, i.e. those under the age of 25, as many as 60.6 percent of those surveyed stated that family is a source of information. Logically, social media also plays a major role among Generation Z respondents: 38.9 percent of them trust influencers.
Overall, however, Generation Z in particular feels very uninformed: 38.7 percent of those under 25 think that they do not know enough to make a financial investment. Only 10 percent of those over 56 feel the same way.
If financial decisions then have to be made, the respondents primarily trust themselves (82.1 percent). Only then do family (60.4 percent) or friends (43.6 percent) follow. Financial advisors bring up the rear among the persons of trust with 39.0 percent. “Anyone who trusts themselves, their family or influencers too much is taking an unnecessary risk,” says Treu.
Precisely because many rely on their own skills, it is important to expand financial education in Germany, demands economic researcher Johannes Treu, because: “Handling money and understanding investments, debt and financial instruments determine whether people have a financially stable life lead and achieve financial goals.”
