Commentary: Millennials need a stronger grasp of personal finances

The Citi-SMU Financial Literacy programme launched by SMU and Citi Singapore (with the support of Citi Foundation) aims to educate young adults aged between 17 and 30 with essential personal finance knowledge and skills applicable to their life stage. This will give them a firm foundation in managing their money and a financial head-start early in their lives. The programme is the brainchild of SMU’s Associate Professor of Finance Jeremy Goh. Since its launched, close to 210 SMU students and more than 120 students from 5 polytechnics and 3 ITE colleges have been trained as financial literacy coaches. The programme has also engaged over 18,000 young adults on a wide range of topics. As testament to its success, an impact assessment on 700 participants conducted by Assistant Professor of Finance (Education) Aurobindo Ghosh, who is also Principal Investigator of the programme, found that 60 per cent of the participants said they improved their basic understanding of financial literacy concepts. 86 per cent strongly agree on the need to start a regular savings plan compared to 66 per cent before attending the programme. The programme also saw 20 per cent increase in the number of students who said they were now investing more prudently. Vivian Quark Zhi Xian, student trainer in the programme, believes that financial literacy among the millennial is more critical than ever as they now face higher cost of living, greater market volatility and longer life expectancies