importance of them in their lives.
5.1. Personal Finance Advice
It was identified through the survey results three different personal finance subjects in which people tend to overestimate their financial knowledge, thus making decisions that are not always in their best interest. For this segment, people have already realized the importance of good money management skills, but they have failed to acquire new knowledge that will allow them to make better decisions. These subjects are: budgeting, saving, and debt.
Given the population is conscious about how relevant these topics are in their lives, but the main issue is the lack of assertiveness in the decision making process, the best approach to help them achieve their goals and a healthier financial life would be through direct contact, providing them personal finance advisory, that would facilitate the creation of plans to manage their money and resources.
These subjects are already present in peoples’ lives and minds, they recognize them and make decisions every day based on what they know. The main objective is to provide them a better set of tools and knowledge that will make it possible for them to realize the mistakes they are making and how they can improve.
Therefore, there are two lines in the direct contact methodology that can be used to address these issues:
Personal finance advisor: This would constitute the main revenue generating service in this business plan. The goal would be to determine the personal finance knowledge and skills that individuals and families need to employ at various life stages and in
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particular life events to make informed financial decisions, and integrate these competencies into effective resources and programs. The concept would be providing personal finance advice and preparing tailor made plans for customers, charging an hourly rate, depending on the number of hours (or sessions) needed.
Group courses/lectures/workshops: A second approach will be offering open courses and workshops that people interested in improving their performance and knowledge in these subjects would take. They can be organized in different time durations to attain different publics and different needs, and a price would be charged for the entire course or workshop (all included).
Others: For people who are interested in developing knowledge and skills in different financial subjects, but who are not ready to design a specific plan, other tools and materials can be developed which they can access at different times and responding to different needs, such as: Webinars, Educational website, Podcasts, Multimedia Presentations, etc.
5.2. Improving Financial Literacy
As previously mentioned, there are other important personal finance matters that the surveys demonstrate people are still not aware of their importance and how they affect their lives. For these, I need to start by increasing consciousness to ensure that individuals and families learn to recognize the importance of financial literacy.
In order to create public’s consciousness, mass communication must be used. The message must be repeated again and again over time, because in this stage, people tend to forget the message quickly. Multidirectional communication must be used; this means utilizing different tools and programs to multiply the same message.
Given people -in general- like entertainment (watch, listen and take part in many such programs), an option would be: “edutainment” and social marketing; finding a way to deliver the message through fun tactics.
Some of the options to achieve the goal of mass communication are:
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Radio: ubiquitous nature helps reach the masses.
Local convenience stores or corner shops: suitable for distribution of pamphlets.
TV Programs: Movies, Edutainment TV series, Animation cartoons.
Walks: There are already organized walks to increase awareness about different issues, such as cancer, drugs, etc. The same method could be used to create a financial culture.
Finally, the development of financial culture should start from a young age. Precisely because of the current demographic bonus present in the country, it is important not only to teach adults how to manage their money and resources, but also start creating an awareness on children, with the aim that when they grow up, they won’t have a hard time making financial decisions, as their parents do.
To achieve this, schools must put financial emphasis on the classes they teach. Other approaches are:
Comic books
Cartoons
Board games
Online games
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