Financial Education Day

10th November, 2014

Entrepreneurship and financial education – Évora was the city chosen for the event. The participants included Associação Portuguesa de Bancos, one of the partners in the Portuguese Financial Education Plan (PNFF).

This year Financial Education Day coincided with the Portuguese Financial Supervisory Authority's World Savings Day. This year it devoted particular attention to financial training for entrepreneurship.

Initiatives for fostering entrepreneurship undertaken by secondary school, university and vocational students and pupils from the Évora District were presented at the conference.

APB activities in Évora

Making it Happen – Ideas of Value was the name that the APB chose for the PNFF's commemoration. This year it was devoted to the importance of financial education in entrepreneurship and organised activities that proved extremely popular with the participants.

The APB provided simple and entertaining financial education for kids and young people as part of the banks' Good Practices, Good Accounts programme.

Students from the Instituto de Formação Bancária (IFB) Banking Operations Course, most of whom will later be bank employees, took part in the event. Their job was to encourage all the visitors to join in.

The outcome was around 50 completed questionnaires from the Financial Education Paper Chase. To fill them in, the participants had to access the www.bpbc.pt website. Around 60 participants pinned savings tips on a board. Dozens of visitors took a quiz to test their financial culture. Around 40 students were screened to find out their 'savings profile'.

Imagens Dia Mundial da Poupança/Dia da Formação Financeira ver»

Here are some excerpts from comments made by the IFB students who worked at the event:

I really enjoyed it, as it gave us the opportunity to answer people's queries about financial issues. We talked to teachers, primary school pupils and secondary school students. We did activities with them, such as testing their financial literacy, knowledge of saving, among others. 
Yara Lafayett

It was a very rewarding experience for me. Not only was it a challenge having to answer everyone's questions, but I was also surprised at the interest they showed, especially young people, in learning more about the financial world! I think the day was a success for all concerned. The participants learned more about finance and had fun at the same time. 
Bernardo

It was amazing the way that young people joined in. The questions they asked showed that they already had a degree of financial culture, which is really good. The activities that the young people were most interested in were the quiz, which showed them things they were not sure about and taught them the answers, and savings tips, which made young people and even adults think about different ways of saving and realise how important it is to save. 
Bárbara Fortes

We were able to attract young people's attention to financial matters, and also teach some basic, important things. It was a day that proved that this area is not only interesting but can also be fun. 
Vera Rosa

It was really interesting because my fellow students and I were able to share a little of our financial knowledge with children, but still make it entertaining and interesting. Throughout the day, I noticed that most of them already knew some of the basics. 
Jéssica Soares

I felt that the day was a success. Young people got information about financial matters that will help them manage their earnings and know how to invest them. This may not be the end of the initiative. We need to teach more people about the importance of financial literacy and contact young people in workshops at schools and use other means of communication, like Facebook, for example). 
Maycon Medeiros

Mariana Pires
Communication and Image Office