Financial Literacy Enhancement as a Task of Financial Education for Latvian Population

Abstract

Living in a rapidly changing environment, financial literacy is an important set of skills, which allows to effectively manage resources and to use all available opportunities to improve one’s quality of life. Actions of different national and international organizations in Europe suggest that financial literacy has become an important topic. The objective of research is to investigate financial literacy and financial education from its theoretical perspective, as well as to evaluate the level of financial literacy in Latvia by carrying out a survey among secondary school students in order to identify the main directions for the promotion of financial literacy in Latvia as part of the European environment. The research results confirmed the common trends that have been observed in the area, moreover, it lead to a deeper understanding of the level of the knowledge secondary school students and the gaps in the area of financial literacy. Furthermore, it allowed to identify the topics that the students are interested in. It also described the need for adequate teaching methods. The current study has identified the stakeholders and their involvement in assisting to raise the level of financial literacy of population. The research focused on co-operation opportunities among stakeholders in order to improve financial literacy among young generation. We can draw some conclusions concerning the current research. One of the most important issue is to promote the cooperation between secondary school teachers and the experts in the field of finance.