Do you remember your first job? Your first pay cheque? It’s a rite of passage for many young Australians that comes with a series of firsts – first car, first bank account, first super fund, first opportunity to save for a holiday.
To make the most of these firsts, young workers need to be financially literate. Unfortunately, many aren’t. The Australian Government’s National Financial Capability Survey 2021 found young workers did not perform as well regarding financial literacy and found dealing with money stressful and overwhelming*.
Dr Phil Lambert, Chair of ASIC’s Expert Group on the financial wellbeing of young people, shines a light on the lack of financial education for young people: “It is hard to fathom why such a fundamental life competency as managing money is left to chance, rarely discussed in a young person’s life journey and where responsibility is shared by many but rests heavily on the individual to stride confidently, tread cautiously or wander aimlessly along the way.**”
Young workers want to learn about finances
Young people are often stereotyped as being uninterested in their finances with the assumption this is the reason they have low levels of financial literacy. Research shows this isn’t the case.
ASIC surveyed 3,000 Australians aged 15 to 21 to better understand how they felt about their finances and published the results in the Young people and money report** in December 2021.
Here are some of the key findings:
| Managing spending and debt | 54% of respondents want to learn how to manage money well and not waste it |
| Making an investment plan | 57% of respondents want to learn how to invest, what types of investments are available and possible risks and returns |
| Understanding superannuation | 62% of respondents agreed that “I think that it’s important to start building up my superannuation when I’m young.” |
Employers are the first choice for financial education
As part of their research, ASIC asked young Australians how they would most like to learn about managing money – was it through their peers, social media, via money apps or online using bank or government websites? While all of these channels play a role, the most popular way to learn about finances was through their employer/workplace.
This comes as no surprise to us at Rest. We know our members look to their employers as a trusted source of information about superannuation. This applies to members of all ages – from those in their first job all the way through to those planning for retirement.
How Rest can help educate your employees about super
Rest has developed a Learning Centre which can help your employees to learn about their super and make informed choices based on their personal circumstances and goals.
To make it simple for your employees to find the information they need, the content on our Learning Centre is structured by life stage. Our life stages cover those who are starting out and need to understand the basics of super, those who are progressing through their careers and those planning for and transitioning to retirement.
We also provide information about super and relationships, as well as considerations for life’s unplanned moments like illness, separation and loss.
So the next time one of your employees comes to you with a question about super, please consider our Learning Centre as a valuable resource to share with them.
* The Australian Government’s National Financial Capability Survey 2021 https://www.financialcapability.gov.au/strategy/part3
** ASIC Medica Release March 2022 '02-052MR ASIC helps young people Get Moneysmart' https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2022-releases/22-052mr-asic-helps-young-people-get-moneysmart/