Neil Edmond: MoneyTime CEO on the new financial literacy curriculum in schools

The Government's ensuring financial education is central to a refreshed school social sciences curriculum. 

Education Minister Erica Stanford's announced it will be a core element for Years 1-10 from next year. 

The curriculum will cover key financial skills for younger students, such as having a bank account, earning, spending and saving. 

Older students will be taught concepts like budgeting, investment and taxes. 

MoneyTime CEO Neil Edmond told Kerre Woodham it’s heartening to see the Ministry of Education come out and make the curriculum clear.  

He says it will have a massive impact on the next generations, as they’ll learn how to manage their money and make the best use of it.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So financial literacy will be taught to years one to
ten in New Zealand from next year. This is income,
it's spending, it's saving, its interest, tax, insurance, you name it.
Money Me CEO Neil Edmund is with me this morning
to discuss Neil, good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Good morning Ryan. How are you very well?

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Thank you? What's the level of financial literacy at the moment? Like,
you know, how much do they know about money?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well? I know some there's various programs available in schools
for quite a while now, but unfortunately it just hasn't
been very clear in the curriculum exactly where personal finance
is to be taught or how and so it's just
really heartening to see that the Ministery of Education is
coming out and saying that they've been getting a lot
clearer about what is to be taught and where. So

(00:46):
I think it's a really good thing.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yeah, and they're doing It's going to be compulsory, there's
going to be resources going to all schools. What do
you think this will do for the kids and for
future generations of kit.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
I think it's going to have a massive impact because
financial education and financial literacy is something that every single
person relies on as they go through life, they learn
how to manage their money and make the best use
of it. And up until now it hasn't been really
clearly promoted. I guess would they're better with good word

(01:23):
to use in schools, and so now that it is
going to be going forward, they're just going to be
the position to make a lot better financial decisions. They're
not going to have to do the trial and error
that we all had to do we were growing up
into adults.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
You provide resources to seven hundred and fifty schools, What
are the kids, what are they most surprised to learn about,
or what do they like learning about?

Speaker 2 (01:47):
I think the feedback that we get from the kids
is they like pretty much all of it because they
realize that it's going to be things that they can
use in their own lives going forward. If they're not
sort of it's not abstract things like economics or difficult
things to get their heads around, like trigonometry. It's actually

(02:08):
real life stuff that they know that they're going to use.
And so we find that the kids are actually genuinely
enthusiastic about learning it, which is great.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Do you who's most keen to learn about it. Do
you find kids who already have money or kids who don't.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
I think it's a combination of both. Kids that do
have money, it's really important that they learn what to
do with it so that they can use it effectively,
so that they can they end up being generally being
the economic main economic contributors to driving the economy for it,
and certainly the kids that don't have it, it's important

(02:46):
that they know it because it's a way of helping
them get out of their current situation into a better one.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Neil, appreciate your trying This morning Money me CEO Neil
Edmund For.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
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