A large proportion of 15-year-old children in Bulgaria have bank accounts and use debit cards. The level of financial literacy among Bulgarian students is below average, the PISA tests showed. With an average score of 498 points, Bulgarian students scored 426.

“Financial literacy education itself is not systematically integrated into school curricula, and conversations with parents on this topic are also important. Children need to learn how to make such financial decisions in order to live the life they want. They need to be able to do the calculations when they shop; at this age, the foundations of long-term thinking and planning are also laid,” commented the founder and director of the Financial Literacy Initiative Foundation (FLI), Rositsa Vartonik, in the studio of “Bulgaria Sutrin” on Bulgaria ON AIR.

She stated that 30 years ago people did not think about how they would provide for pensions or healthcare, and in the event of disasters they relied on the state to help.

“This cannot work. For 15-year-olds, it is a mandatory condition to realise that their future is in their own hands. There is a large difference in terms of socio-economic status – children coming from more privileged families are more financially literate, while children with lower socio-economic status achieve lower results; the gap in Bulgaria is very large. This is where the school should try to reduce this difference, to ensure equal access to knowledge and skills,” said Rositsa Vartonik. She gave an example of the advantages of having a personal children’s bank account and bank card, and what parents should pay attention to.

Rositsa Vartonik recommended that, in addition to using payment cards, young people should also install mobile banking applications. This would allow them to manage their funds by tracking what they spend money on and how much. In this way, personal finance management skills would be developed. Parents are a key factor in building the foundations of children’s financial literacy. The “lessons” can start early, and as children grow, conversations about the more distant future, long-term financial goals, and how to achieve them should begin. “It is good to teach children to save and to have a goal; when there is one, you are more motivated,” Rositsa Vartonik added.

Watch the full conversation in the video.