Kuala Lumpur, 30 July 2024: In response to the nationwide push to improve financial education, particularly among young people, the Financial Industry Collective Outreach (FINCO) has developed ‘Ringgit Rules Junior’, which comes with complimentary financial literacy resources for students aged 9 to 11 years old.

Following a survey conducted by FINCO last year, the not-for-profit organisation concluded that the earlier students have the opportunity to learn about money, the higher their chance of achieving a good understanding of financial management by the time they leave school and transition into tertiary education or the workforce.

“FINCO recognises the importance of financial literacy as a foundational skill that can shape the future of young minds. By introducing basic financial literacy concepts and equipping students with information that enhances their understanding of how to manage personal finances for long-term financial wellbeing, we aim to lay the groundwork for responsible financial behaviour from an early age,” said FINCO’s Chief Executive Officer, Clare Walker.

Complete with instructions, facilitation notes, student worksheets and slides, ‘Ringgit Rules Junior’ is easy for any teacher to pick up and implement in the classroom. The resources cover four lessons:

• ‘Money: Where it comes from’ in which students learn about ways that people get money to pay for things;
• ‘Planning my spending: Needs and wants’ which teaches students how to differentiate between the two;
• ‘Savings goal: How to set one’ which uses the foundation from the earlier lessons to teach students about setting both short-term and long-term goals; and
• ‘Budgeting: How to save and spend wisely’ which teaches students how to plan and manage their financial resources.

During a pilot session in June, run in collaboration with the Nicol David Organisation (NDO) and 43 of their students, each lesson was tested against its respective learning outcome. The sessions saw students fully engaged in the learning process and achieving at least 89% of the intended goals, demonstrating the effectiveness of the resources for students.

“It was fun to see the kids trying to set a price for each item that they chose. We can see that they have not fully understood the concept of how much something can cost. Hopefully from here on, they can understand things like pricing a little better,” said Yusuf Ridzuan, one of the NDO facilitators.

The resources have also been designed to be easily adopted and adapted by volunteers from the financial industry, who play an active role in supporting FINCO’s impact-driven financial literacy initiatives.

Commenting on this, FINCO’s Chairman, Tan Sri Azman Hashim said, “There is a vested interest amongst the financial industry, educators, and various stakeholders to improve young people’s financial literacy. The financial industry’s commitment to empowering the next generation with the knowledge and skills they need to navigate the complexities of personal finance is instrumental in contributing to a more financially savvy and secure society.”The ‘Ringgit Rules Junior’ resources are aligned to the Ministry of Education (MOE) Malaysia’s curriculum and the National Strategy for Financial Literacy 2019-2023, and can be downloaded at www.finco.my/ringgit-rules-junior.