Financial literacy is one of the most critical skill sets a person can have today. With these skills, they can better manage their finances, put their money towards future-forward programs, and even understand how to invest their funds. Schools need to teach their students fundamental financial literacy to graduate and move on to university or the workforce with a clear understanding of compound savings, interest rates, taking out loans, repayments, and how taxes work. 

Creating a financial literacy program can fundamentally improve every student’s future outlook, but building it can be challenging. Some concepts will remain the same; others change yearly as new tax laws or technologies take the stage. 

There’s a lot to think about when creating and setting up an effective financial literacy program. This guide will help you understand what you need to get started.

Key Financial Literacy Topics to Include in Your Program 

One of the first and most important decisions you’ll need to make is to choose which topics will be in your financial literacy program. For example, if you intend to create a single financial literacy program for teenage students, you’ll likely want to cover the basics to establish key financial skills and understanding. If you’re making a multi-level program, you’ll want to introduce more advanced topics, like the basics of investing. 

Your course must look to the future regardless of which topics you intend to cover. This means it needs to include how AI for finance has changed or likely will change financial literacy, skills, and even governance. Preparing students for economic success in their lives means prepping them for the latest ways finance and technology will change. 

Does this mean you’ll need to update your course regularly? Absolutely. The same as with any academic topic. Before you worry about future updates, however, you need to start with your core program. To help kickstart your program planning, consider including these essential literacy topics.

For Absolute Beginners

A new report from the OECD concludes that two-thirds of students today suffer from poor financial literacy, with one in five not achieving baseline proficiency. This puts young people today at extreme financial risk, as they cannot understand essential concepts like loan terms, financial future planning, or even how to budget. 

With the increase of buy now, pay later options, the increased barriers to home ownership, and the challenges of saving for retirement, it’s more important than ever that educators teach financial literacy in their schools. 

That’s why beginner programs are so essential. How you frame them will depend on the age bracket of the students in question, but in general your beginner programs should cover: 

• Budgeting 
• Saving
• Banking basics 
• Buying/returning

Getting kids to think about how they spend their money, how to save, and also the fundamentals of banking is a great place to start, especially if they have an allowance, or get money for their birthdays. 

For Intermediate Students

For older students, like teenagers or fresh university students, you’ll want to expand the basic curriculum to include topics such as: 

• Income
• Taxes
• Investing
• Debt management
• Debt recovery
• Credit and credit scores
• Interest
• Insurance
• Pensions and retirement savings

Teaching students these concepts before they need them will empower them to make better decisions about their own financial futures from day one. 

Of course, if you are creating a digital program that can be accessed by anyone, remember to make the language neutral. It’s entirely possible your intermediate fundamentals course will be taken by older adults who are working towards bettering their financial skillset. 

For Advanced Students

Advanced students will be working professionals who aim to improve their career skills with key financial literacy skills. This means they won’t be accountants or experts themselves but are likely business executives, managers, or even potential business owners who want to understand more about business financials or even take the reins of a few basic tasks for themselves. 

With that in mind, here are a few topics you’d want to include and cover in your business-focussed programs: 

• Financial Modeling: A financial model is a tool businesses use to analyze their financial performance and even predict revenue throughout the year based on historical data. On top of covering the basics, you’ll want to include hands-on tasks to give business students a working understanding of creating a financial model for themselves. 
• Cashflow Management: Cashflow management is vital for small business owners in particular. Teaching the fundamentals of cash flow and strategies for maintaining a positive cash flow at all times can help budding entrepreneurs succeed. 
• Cost Optimization: Optimizing running costs with lean operation strategies is an effective way to increase ROI. That’s why you’ll want to cover a few essential strategies for running cost audits and using financial planning to decrease overhead and increase profits. 

How to Set Up a Successful and Engaging Financial Literacy Program 

If you want your financial literacy program to succeed on all counts, you must make it engaging. This means it needs to not only sell, but it also needs to effectively teach students the fundamentals they need to make better decisions in the future. 

The good news is that all your efforts to make your financial literacy program can be used in your marketing plan. Build a better product, and you’ll find it’s easier to market to schools or even directly to students themselves. 

Before you reach that stage, however, you need to make sure you set up your financial literacy program with these key tips: 

1. Start with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) 

A successful program needs to be contained, which means that the scope of what you teach in the program is limited—at least at launch. 

If your goals for the program are grand, then start small and expand slowly. This is known as creating a minimum viable product. Create the base course and launch phases as you extend its capabilities, functions, and scope. 

For example, you can expand your program by building a roster of professionals to give talks or lectures. Unless the program is school-specific, you’ll also want to set up video conference equipment to have one speaker for all students, regardless of location. 

You don’t, however, have to have all this ready to go immediately. You can get feedback from educators, refine your curriculum first, and then add enriched media like talks or video recordings later.

2. Make it Customizable

Every student comes with a different background. That’s why you first need to scrap the idea that you can create a single one-size-fits-all financial literacy program. 

Ideally, each student can set a few essential filters before beginning this program. This way, students can select or deselect their financial priorities and what they want to learn based on their unique financial circumstances. 

3. Teach Them With Real World Tools 

Creating a successful and engaging financial literacy program should always include hands-on experience. Many people simply learn better when they do. For teens, this can be done through what’s known as gamification. 

However, you’re better off teaching adult students how to use the tools they’ll likely use. If you’re covering topics like financial compliance, for example, then train students how to use tools like account reconciliation software. 

Hands-on learning is the best way to learn, especially considering that finance today often involves using apps, websites, or AI. Include the tools your students will use to help with their financial success, and you’ll have created a powerful and engaging financial literacy program. 

4. Link Courses for Further Learning 

You can’t cover every topic in a single program. However, you can build outward or partner with other providers to allow students to continue learning after completing your curriculum. For example, a business student who has just completed their advanced financial business literacy program may want to learn other essential financial skills, like running audit checks. 

Linking resources is a longstanding educational practice. Ideally, you’d be able to link to other programs or courses that you provide. You could also partner with other institutions. If one of your students enrolls in that program via your link, you could get a small financial reward. In return, negotiate a discount code specific to your students. 

Remember to link a few free or budget-friendly resources to give students of all economic backgrounds options for furthering their financial literacy training.   

5. Let Your Students Ask Questions

Asking questions is how we learn. In classrooms, this is done naturally. In a standard digital environment, however, there’s the program, and that’s it. That’s why you should consider including ways for students to ask questions. 

For basic questions, you could use an AI chatbot. This way, you can free up the educator or program leader for more in-depth conversations. Do keep in mind, however, that there’s a good chance some students won’t ask questions at all—which is to their detriment. A good way to avoid this is to include what’s known as breakout rooms. Think of them as short group sessions where the educator converses with six or fewer students at a time. This will help quieter students get a chance to ask questions and get more specific answers based on their unique circumstances. 

Conclusion

Successful financial literacy programs cover essential topics, are engaging, and are customizable. To set one up effectively, however, you need to start small. First, build a solid product that covers the topics set out for the age or experience bracket. Later, add additional features. Doing it this way helps you get your product to market faster and gives you more opportunities to gain essential feedback ASAP so you can build a rock-solid program for your students.