by Claudia Segre
In Finnish schools, financial education is not considered an optional subject but an integral part of citizens’ development. Students learn early on how to read financial statements, understand the importance of saving, and identify the risks of easy credit.
Influencers, speculative trading platforms masquerading as academies and associations engaged in sponsored courses for external purposes form an environment that promotes easy enrichment without rules. In response to this phenomenon, France introduced two years ago a certificate for influencers, the “Responsible Influencer Certificate” aimed at protecting savers. However, at the root of the risks of fraud and attempts to sell easy financial solutions lies a country that has failed to improve its financial skills for years.
In Italy, Source: OECD/INFE International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy, 2023. Shows the average financial literacy scores of adults in OECD countries: only 29% of adults reach the minimum recommended level, OECD research – PISA 2022 Results, Volume IV. Shows the distribution of students by level of financial competence: only 5% of Italian students reach the highest level, compared to 11% of the OECD average.
Influencers, speculative trading platforms masquerading as academies and associations engaged in sponsored courses for external purposes form an environment that promotes easy enrichment without rules. In response to this phenomenon, France introduced, two years ago, a certificate for influencers, the “Responsible Influencer Certificate”, aimed at protecting savers. However, at the root of the risks of fraud and attempts to sell easy financial solutions lies a country that has failed to improve its financial skills for years.
Italy,
Source: OECD/INFE International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy, 2023. Shows the average financial literacy scores of adults in OECD countries: only 29% of adults reach the minimum recommended level.
OECD – PISA 2022 Results, Volume IV. Shows the distribution of students by level of financial literacy: only 5% of Italian students reach the top level, compared to 11% of the OECD average.
The consequences of this weakness manifest themselves in daily life: unstable savings, poor retirement planning, and difficulties in understanding financial and digital products affect women and young people in particular, exacerbating economic and social inequalities. This results in limited insurance and pension coverage, as well as increased exposure to financial abuse and economic violence, hindering the construction of sound pathways to personal well-being. In 2017, the Committee for the planning and coordination of financial education activities was established by the Ministry of Economy: a significant step, but still incomplete. Although numerous initiatives exist – from banks to foundations to school projects – there is a lack of a platform to analyse results, as is the case in international initiatives with social aims. What is needed is a National Strategy that receives the utmost attention from both the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health. Italy has many good practices, but without a common direction.
Every November, we celebrate “Financial Education Month”, but without a national plan capable of translating principles into concrete actions, results remain uncertain. Looking at Europe, we can take an example from Finland, where financial education is not considered an optional subject but an integral part of citizens’ development. In Finnish schools, students learn early on how to read financial statements, understand the importance of saving, and identify the risks of easy credit. As a result, according to the OECD, Finnish 15-year-olds score one of the highest in the world in financial competence (537 points against the global average of 505). This figure highlights a culture that regards financial knowledge as a fundamental tool for individual and collective freedom.
In Finland, financial education has always been considered strategic; as early as 2021, the National Strategy for Financial Literacy 2030 was launched, involving schools, universities, media, and civic organisations to become the country with the best financial literacy in the world by 2030. It is therefore a coordinated plan with clear responsibilities and measurable results; above all, with a vision: being an aware citizen equals being a free citizen. The Finnish example shows that change is possible if implemented through structural public policies. In Finland, financial education concerns not only young people but also working and older adults; each age group has access to specific paths accompanied by intuitive digital tools. This strategy aims at collective empowerment, where the state leads but does not act alone, but together with companies, universities, NGOs, and consumer associations, which are all key players in the process.
Today, we face first and foremost an economic challenge related to the lack of skills that undermines the soundness of the working approach of households with respect to conscious productivity; then there is also a cultural aspect crucial for economic sustainability shared by all social actors. The ability to manage money implies knowing how to choose, protect oneself from fraud, and avoid harmful economic dependencies while planning correctly for the future by actively participating in the economic life of the country.
Looking beyond Europe’s borders, we note that in Anglo-Saxon countries, there is already integration of financial education into everyday life: for example, in the United Kingdom, there is a government portal (“MoneyHelper”) dedicated to assisting citizens through all stages of economic life; Canada and Australia constantly monitor educational policies through updated public indicators.
And us? We possess the creativity and the appropriate institutions to build a new, robust Italian model based on a school education structured around continuous financial education for adults, together with a culture of trust in the financial sphere supported by a single steering committee responsible for effectively managing long-term national plans aimed at public-private and third sector integration with clear and measurable objectives.
We cannot afford to fall further behind and miss out on valuable talent and opportunities to improve the financial inclusion of people excluded from the current system. Financial literacy is not just about technical notions: it is an essential civic right, because only those who truly understand the value of money, saving, and investing can self-determine. As Finland has shown, to educate in finance is to educate in freedom – the very freedom needed to build fairer, more conscious and sustainable futures together.
