4 min.
Editorial Invest in Slovakia
According to several surveys conducted in recent years, the level of financial literacy of Slovaks is low. Education has the biggest influence on it, but it is also partly influenced by the size of the city where a person comes from and the social environment. Incorrect financial habits and financial ignorance do not bother Slovaks too much. However, they do influence important life decisions to a large extent.
There are not too many surveys on financial literacy in Slovakia, which perhaps speaks for itself), but even from those few it is very easy to see where we stand. V 2020 surveyconducted by OVB, 9 out of 10 Slovaks said they understand finance. Final survey statistics however, showed something else. The average result of the Slovaks was only 62 points out of 100.
But the survey also showed some positives. These include, for example, the fact that Slovaks try to save at least 25 euros a month for their children. Many also manage to save from their salaries at least €100 per month. Slovaks are no strangers to planning expenses. Approximately 70 % respondents do so.
More than half of Slovaks spend a tenth of your family's entertainment budget and 31 % of Slovaks spend 30 % of their income on hobbies. Slovaks spend the least on culture.
Slovaks have improved in putting aside a certain amount of their salary, but we are significantly worse off in terms of saving for retirement. According to the survey, they are saving for it only 4 out of 10 respondents. Only 28 % Slovaks have a retirement savings plan and of these, only about half are able to follow it.
The problem with financial literacy starts in primary and secondary schools. Pupils not enough financial literacy education activitiesleading to poor financial decisions at a young age.
The fact that the level of financial literacy of Slovak pupils is below average is confirmed by 2018 PISA study. Slovakia scored 481 points, while the average of other countries was at 505 points. Only Chile scored lower than Slovakia in the study.
One way to increase financial literacy is to include more educational activities in schools that teach pupils basic information about money from a young age. Back in 2020, the Ministry of Education said it would support schools and educators in this regard, but no significant changes can be seen yet.
To help educators and pupils, the Ministry of Finance set up an educational portal a few years ago Edu-centrum.sk, which has not been updated for five years. People wishing to improve their financial literacy thus have at their disposal only one official portal from the statewhich is Fininfo.sk.
Another solution to increase financial literacy is self-study. There are many foreign resources available and we can also recommend a few Slovak ones. In addition to articles on our own blog the portal is certainly worth mentioning 5p and internationally used site Investopedia.
How are you? You can also assess your investment literacy, for example in in the index of the same name. An assessment of your current knowledge will show you the way forward. But don't forget to put the theoretical knowledge you gain from your studies into practice, whether it's responsible shopping or a new form of investing.
