Financial Literacy: The Case of Poland

Abstract

Financial literacy is a path to sustainability and has an important role in ensuring the financial sustainability of individuals, families, enterprises and national economies. The level of these economic indicators such as debt, payment discipline, savings and financial management all translate into prosperity or insolvency and bankruptcy and result partially from financial literacy. The higher the level of financial literacy, especially of young people, the more favourable the level of economic indicators, which translates into the economy and sustainable development. With this study we aim to determine the level of financial literacy of high school students in Poland and to determine whether financial literacy changes according to gender. The most important element that distinguishes our study from the others is that or study was carried out with a large sample of high school students with an average age of 15–16 years. In addition, the effect of gender on financial literacy at an early age was investigated, also comparing the wider themes to the so-called narrow themes. The results of the research demonstrated a good and partially very good, level of financial knowledge of the young people in Poland. 45.3% obtained an average level score and 43.8% achieved a high-level score in financial knowledge. This result shows that they can be rational in their financial decision making. However although, it is understood that gender makes a difference on financial behaviour and use of financial instruments, gender does not make any difference on the level of financial knowledge. Moreover, the financial literacy level of males is found to be higher than females.

Financial Literacy and Exercise Behavior: Evidence from Japan

“…Hence, people with a high level of financial literacy tend to have better cognitive ability, which is likely to make them more rational. Previous studies also provide evidence on how financial literacy contributes to rational economic behavior [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. People with good financial literacy are more likely to have diverse investments [33,41], prepare for retirement [29,30,35,36,39,42], and make reasonable healthcare decisions [43].…”

Performance risk analysis on mutual funds versus stock exchanges in young financial markets

“…Even though Romania is the country with the largest population and the largest economy, it has the smallest mutual fund market and the second stock exchange market among the three countries studied. The explanations for this state of facts can be related to: the low level of income of households, the low level of financial education of population in relationship to other countries in Europe and in Central and Eastern Europe (Batsaikhan & Demertzis, 2018;Swiecka et al, 2020), a less developed system of private pensions (that usually encourage the development of mutual funds), the lack of investment culture and experience (Lusardi, 2019), the need for higher levels of knowledge based development.…”

“…Studies that analyse at country level capital markets, stock exchanges and mutual funds are less numerous. Some of these studies are in Poland (Filip, 2018;Swiecka et al, 2020;Raišienė et al, 2019) and in the Czech Republic (Sindelar & Budinsky, 2019). There were also identified some studies conducted in the countries of interest of the present research.…”

Financial Elements in Teaching and Learning of Mathematics: A Systematic Review

“…Meanwhile, Atkinson and Messy (2012) state that financial literacy is a combination of awareness, knowledge, skill, attitude, and behavior needed to make sound financial decisions and eventually achieve individual financial well-being. It is a significant component in understanding finances and making smart financial decisions (Swiecka, Yeşildağ, Özen, & Grima, 2020). Policymakers and other stakeholders must resolve effective financial education to sustain a healthier financial literacy of individuals and society in the future.…”