Visit by Dr. Nicky Reid and visiting graduate intern Michael Diss (May 13 to May 19)

May is Financial Literacy Month for several countries across the globe, so this is a good time to remind ourselves of how important this topic is for young people and teenagers today.

With money popping out of ATM machines, plastic debit and credit cards widely used, and the ability to pay bills online or through automatic deduction can make the concept of ‘real money’ seem abstract especially teens.

Understanding the flow of “money in/money out” is a fundamental life skill that should begin as early as possible. Learning financially literacy early on can significantly impact young people’s future as adults, when the ability to budget, save, spend and grow money can determine a person’s financial health and well-being.

Dr. Nicky Reid and Michael Diss from University of Roehampton, London, UK have been spearheading financial literacy in the UK for several years, by providing innovative teaching resources and learning tools, for both students and staff in the delivery of financial education via the nationally acclaimed Money Doctors programme. Dr. Reid is the co-originator of the programme, which was funded by the Financial Services Authority (FSA 2005), and piloted at Roehampton; after a baseline survey of the UK’s financial literacy skills highlighted a clear need for action with in the younger cohort (16-21) who scored consistently lower in several key areas.

The strategy for ‘Delivering Change’ focused on helping to develop the skills, knowledge and understanding young people would need to become financially astute, global citizens and consumers of financial products. The Money Doctors programme also supports and helps to enable senior managers to integrate full and effective personal finance education schemes into their teaching and learning programmes.

While on a visit to Singapore, they are going to be speaking about the background to their work as the UK’s leading experts in their field, why they do it, why Financial Illiteracy is a global issue — especially among teenagers and why there is a need for intervention.

As part of their presentation Dr. Reid and Michael will share their experiences and examples of good practice in bridging the gap between knowledge and behaviour.