Life is not just about fun and games.
These days, children fail to realise how important money is. They tend to spend their parents’ money on things they want, but don’t exactly need.
They don’t understand the hard work put in by their parents to earn money for the family’s survival. They also don’t understand that a portion of their parents’ money is for their future – college fees and self-development training.
A 2018 survey by the Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency showed that over 50 per cent of Malaysians may not be financially ready for retirement.
The Covid-19 pandemic had forced many Malaysians to dig into their savings. As such, the percentage of people not financially ready for retirement could very well be higher today.
Therefore, parents must raise financially literate children for the sake of their own future.
Parents must educate their children on how to budget, spend wisely, and within the allocated amount.
Only buy things that are needed, to avoid wastage. Parents could teach their children the basics of finance, so that they could make informed financial choices.
The importance of finance is evidenced by the recent impact of the pandemic, where many people lost their jobs, resulting in them being financially vulnerable.
The Education Ministry must introduce finance and financial management in all schools in Malaysia as soon as possible.
This is because knowledge in finance would allow children to better manage cost, save for important purchases, such as buying a house, marriage, starting a family, and retirement.
They would know how to protect their various assets or reduce different liabilities by purchasing various types of insurance.
They would also have the knowledge to ‘grow’ their money, by investing in blue chip stocks, collecting rare coins, and many more.
I hope parents and the ministry will introduce finance to children so that they can manage their money well.
This could help avoid bankruptcy, having to get loans from loan sharks, and being neck-deep in debt. This is because these things could ruin a person’s life.
This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Twentytwo13.
To give the younger generation an avenue to express themselves, Twentytwo13 now has a dedicated space called Young Voices. If you are a young writer (aged between 12 and 17) and would like to have your article published on our news website, send your contribution to editor@twentytwo13.my.
All articles must be accompanied by the young writer’s full name, MyKad number, contact number, and the mobile number of the young writer’s parents/guardians for verification purposes.
