Tejasvi Surya, Bharatiya Janta Party MP from Bengaluru South Lok Sabha constituency, today raised the issue of imparting personal financial management lessons to youth at an early stage of life in the Lok Sabha.
“Personal financial management is a crucial life skill that young Indians must be taught as they enter the job market. It will help them navigate financial life effectively and prevent falling prey to dubious schemes, and debt traps,” Surya said while urging the Education Ministry to introduce the lessons in the curriculum.
As most people don’t know the basics of money management, Surya said that personal financial management lessons should be treated as a life skill that needs to be taught at school.
“Most don’t know the basics of money management – the value of money, compounding, rate of return, insurance, mutual funds, SIPs, retirement planning etc. This puts them in a precarious financial situation which is exploited by frauds,” he said.
Watch: Tejasvi Surya’s speech
Surya’s speech on the critical issue of personal money management was widely appreciated by personal finance experts and the social media community as many of them agreed with him, saying personal financial management should be a must-have subject in all college courses.
“Thank you @Tejasvi_Surya for taking up this very important issue in Parliament. Understanding money is a life skill that must be taught in schools and colleges,” tweeted Monika Halan, author and Adjunct Prof at NISM.
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“Very important! This will help avoid financial disasters many families have suffered due to lack of knowledge. Being a banker for 30+ years, I have seen many families, otherwise, experts in their respective fields, take wrong decisions and suffer the consequences,” tweeted a user named Kishore Sonecha.
What experts say
Most experts say that it is important to introduce the concept of money and its management to children at an early age. They say that parents can establish teachable moments, for example during shopping or paying money to someone, to explain how money works to children.