During the recent weeks I have thought about Latvian youths, the new generation, so to speak. Firstly, because it is the end of study year, which has always been a point of reference in my life. I must have inherited the habit from my school years when I used to make a brief stop somewhere in May to look back at what has been achieved in the first part of the year. It seems that such habits may last forever.
Secondly, also here at the Institute May was mainly dedicated to the youths. On 13 May we successfully held the first (and definitely not the lasts) Young Financial Experts Conference, which gathered secondary school students from all Latvia to present their conclusions on planning of personal finances and to come up with proposals aimed at improving the situation at national level. A video retrospective of the conference is available here.
And finally, yesterday we were happy to welcome the two girls from Jelgava Grammar School “Spīdola”, who, as a part of the conference, were awarded the title of Young Financial Experts. It was a day full of valuable discussions about money, the choice of future profession and education.
Since the very beginning of our work we have repeatedly asked ourselves, what is the new generation of Latvia like, what do youngsters think about money, and what are their attitudes? Our survey (video No 3) shows that children are greatly influenced by their parents as well as the generally prevailing stereotypes about money. Young people tend to regard money as something that is out of reach, something a bit harmful or even dangerous. However, one may notice that these attitudes are characteristic of situations where money is held by someone else, yet everybody want to provide for their own and their families’ financial welfare. Unfortunately, the prejudices nurtured by the older generation may prevent the young from reaching this objective.
So, what can we do about it? We should always remember that children reflect the habits of their parents. Youngsters knowingly and even more so unknowingly imitate their parents’ behaviour. Therefore if we want our children to surpass us in terms of successful handling of money matters, we should start with ourselves and our own actions. Do we always act just like we would want our children to act in the future? We have also published some practical tips on how to teach your children about money matters on our web-site.
And here is another conclusion made out of the avalanche of information we have had in recent weeks. Parents should not be afraid to involve their children in planning of their family budget. Actually it is the children who tend to break the parents’ traditions in this area. All the participants of the conference admitted that their research on family budget planning has triggered interest in their parents as well.
I have vivid memories of the day on which following the instructions of secondary school Economics teacher I drafted my family budget report for one month. This entailed scrupulous input of data from all the receipts in a MS Excel sheet. My parents were surprised and intrigued, for this was beyond their comprehension. Yet my work served as an inspiration for them to continue this useful practice.
The new generation is better equipped in terms of the use of new technologies, thus substantially reducing the time required for financial planning. Yet, the most characteristic and, probably, the most valuable traits of the youngsters that can bring new trends to the family budget planning are their unrelenting all-or-nothing attitude and immense optimism. If you entrust them with responsibility over such an important part of our life as the control of family finances, you will be pleasantly surprised at how selflessly they try to keep you on the right tracks. If you have children, try it!
