Christian Keller, MD at My Finance Coach, will be presenting new research this year at FundForum International 2013 on Gen Y Education – Financial Education strategies for the next generation of customers. Ahead of his participation in Monaco, we learn a bit more about the work My Finance Coach have been doing.
When you left school did you know who wrote Hamlet? Were you able to list the dates of the World Wars or explain Pythagoras’ Theorem? Most of us can answer with a resounding “yes” to these questions.
Could you explain the correlation between return, risk and liquidity? Did you know how to manage your own household budget? Very few young people are taught to do so, yet these decisions have a large impact on our future livelihoods and the possibilities that are open to us in the long-term. At My Finance Coach our aim is to help make the next generation financially capable. This means giving them the knowledge and skills to ask the right questions, be aware of their rights and responsibilities as consumers and to make considered and informed choices when making financial decisions.
My Finance Coach is a non-profit initiative currently active through social franchising in eight countries across Europe, Asia and South America to improve the financial literacy and to prevent debt in young people aged 10 to 16. Currently it is a joint effort of the companies Allianz, Deutsche Kredit Bank, Grey, Haniel, KPMG, McKinsey and Volkswagen Bank as part of their corporate social responsibility activities. Volunteers from the companies, experts in the fields of business and finance, are trained as Finance Coaches and then go into schools and conduct classes together with the teacher on topics such as Online and Finance, Planning, Saving, Managing Risk as well as Environment and Business.
The experience is a win-win situation for both the pupils and educators and the corporate volunteers: the pupils and teachers receive insight and first-hand knowledge from practitioners in the field and the volunteers are able to use their unique skills and abilities to give back to society and their communities. The first evaluation of My Finance Coach by the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich in cooperation with Royal Holloway, University of London has shown that the lessons work! A second evaluation measuring behavioural change is currently in progress .
The efforts of the volunteers and approach of My Finance Coach have been recognised by the German UNESCO Commission for the UN Decade “Education for Sustainable Development” and the European Comenius medal.
In addition to corporate volunteering My Finance Coach also offers teacher training and extra-curricular activities such as the Annual International Finance Competition. All MFC activities are free of sales and marketing and free of charge for pupils and teachers.
Since its founding in October 2010 approximately 1500 Finance Coaches worldwide have helped improve the financial capability of around 200’000 young people.
To join us and share your knowledge and expertise to sustainably help young people become financially capable please visit: www.myfinancecoach.org
You can hear more from Christian at FundForum International 2013. Download the latest event programme by clicking here.
Further information on FundForum International can be found by visiting the website.
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