Brazil leads financial education strategy

Financially empowering the middle classes by educating them as investors was one of the purposes designed in 2010 within the national strategy which Brazil established by Presidential Decree, due to the economic growth and low levels of financial knowledge, as stated in the document "La educación financiera en América Latina y el Caribe. Situación actual y perspectivas" (Financial Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. Current Situation and Prospects) from the series Políticas Públicas y Transformación Productiva (Public Policies and Productive Transformation). 

Among the policies of this initiative, in which representatives from the public and private sectors participated, the financial education through the formal educational sector stands out. 

The pilot program was developed in 891 schools in six states of the country. During the execution, close to 26,000 students met in order to prove the effectiveness of the financial education program and the curriculum before its application at a national level. 

The scheme also evaluated the offer of financial education with a comprehensive approach, incorporating studies of cases of financial education in courses such as mathematics, languages or literature, science, technology, and other disciplines.   

The action plan defined the goals of the strategy within three levels: information, instruction, and orientation, based on the definition of financial education of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). 

The surveys carried out revealed that a significant portion of the Brazilian population lacked the necessary experience to adequately manage their personal finances and had low levels of savings and investments compared with consumption. This determined the execution of a financial education program emphasizing personal financial management and the impact of individual actions on the economy.