Teach your children about money matters |03 September 2020

Many parents know it's important to teach their children about money matters at a young age. But most don't know where to start.

This is why UN Youth Seychelles (UNYS) is organising a workshop for children and parents which will tackle a range of topics such as setting financial goals, savings, household budgeting, investing, and managing financial risks.

Speaking to Seychelles NATION, Annarose Clarisse, founder and president of UN Youth Seychelles, and Raghavi Naidu, vice-president of the NGO, noted that the workshop aims to bridge the gap that exists between the general population and personal finance management. 

“Lack of financial literacy impacts the well-being of the country as individuals make less than ideal financial decisions; whether it is living beyond one’s means, borrowing without understanding the extent of indebtedness or not planning for the future. This does not mean financial literacy should only focus on the income earners, but instilling good financial skills from a young age will lead to merits in the child’s future as well,” they remarked.

The parent-child financial education workshop will encompass the practice of tackling the concept of indebtedness, amongst other aspects.  The merits of the project were echoed by the National Grants Committee whereby, UNYS submitted the project as part of the call for projects to be implemented in 2020. 

 “There will be three workshops, one on each inner island, whereby we aim to target 72 individuals – 36 parents and their child. The idea is to tackle financial education across generations so as to instil personal finance management skills for different members of the household,” Mr Clarisse added.

The workshop will be run by Wellington Manjengwa, a financial service professional who has carved a successful career in banking and financial services.

Although there have been workshops which have focused on budgeting matters, the approach of intergenerational learning is a concept that is yet to be seen.

Un Youth noted that it is clear that when families improve their knowledge on money matters, they can better plan their income and expenses for their household and ultimately improve their living standards. 

“The question for us was, why don’t we include the parent in the child’s journey on learning about financial matters. That way, they can each contribute towards the well-being of the household and take financial decisions together,” said Ms Clarisse.

 The interactive session will ensure delegates leave the workshops armed with renewed knowledge whilst also spending quality time with their parent/child. This could help bring about improved financial skills such as prioritising, budgeting and responsible decision making. Additionally, this may ignite the drive for households to learn about other aspects of financial literacy and share the knowledge with their family and friends.  

The dates of the workshop are as follows:

• Mahé: September 19, 2020

• Praslin: October 31, 2020

• La Digue: November 14, 2020

The venue will be communicated upon registration at the following link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JSMN37R

By: Christophe Zialor

Info contributed by Annarose Clarrise and Raghavi Naidu