IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v18y2025i5p254-d1650695.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Do Children with Above-Average Abilities Understand About Financial Literacy?

Author

Listed:
  • Eulália Santos

    (School of Education and Social Sciences, Polytechnic of Leiria, Campus 1, Rua Dr. João Soares, Apartado 4045, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal)

  • Fernando Oliveira Tavares

    (REMIT—Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies, Department of Economics and Management, Universidade Portucalense, 4200-027 Porto, Portugal
    Instituto Superior Miguel Torga, Largo da Cruz de Celas nº 1, 3000-132 Coimbra, Portugal)

  • Cátia Maurício

    (School of Education and Social Sciences, Polytechnic of Leiria, Campus 1, Rua Dr. João Soares, Apartado 4045, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal)

Abstract

Metaphors help to simplify complex concepts, making them more accessible and understandable for children. Children can build a more concrete understanding of these concepts by associating abstract financial ideas with familiar situations or objects. The present study aims to explore what children with above-average abilities understand by financial literacy, using words and images as tools of expression. During a workshop, 22 children with above-average abilities participated in two tasks, one individual and one group task. The results showed that “save” (90.9%), “money” (63.9%), “invest” (59.1%), and “bank” (54.5%) are the words most strongly associated with the concept of financial literacy among the children. Regarding images, money ( M = 1.77), a clock or calendar ( M = 2.50), a pig ( M = 2.75), and a house ( M = 2.84) were identified as the most representative symbols of financial literacy for this group of children. In the group task, children perceive financial literacy mainly as managing and using money to satisfy needs and desires. The results can inform educators about the need to adapt educational materials to match children’s level of understanding better, promoting more effective and accessible financial education.

Suggested Citation

  • Eulália Santos & Fernando Oliveira Tavares & Cátia Maurício, 2025. "What Do Children with Above-Average Abilities Understand About Financial Literacy?," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-18, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:18:y:2025:i:5:p:254-:d:1650695
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/18/5/254/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/18/5/254/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrzej Cwynar & Wiktor Cwynar & Kamil Wais, 2019. "Debt Literacy and Debt Literacy Self‐Assessment: The Case of Poland," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 24-57, March.
    2. Anita I. Drever & Elizabeth Odders-White & Charles W. Kalish & Nicole M. Else-Quest & Emily M. Hoagland & Emory N. Nelms, 2015. "Foundations of Financial Well-Being: Insights into the Role of Executive Function, Financial Socialization, and Experience-Based Learning in Childhood and Youth," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 13-38, March.
    3. Margarida Abreu & Victor Mendes, 2010. "Financial literacy and portfolio diversification," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(5), pages 515-528.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cwynar Andrzej, 2020. "Financial Literacy, Behaviour and Well-Being of Millennials in Poland Compared to Previous Generations: The Insights from Three Large-Scale Surveys," Review of Economic Perspectives, Sciendo, vol. 20(3), pages 289-335, September.
    2. TAVARES Fernando Oliveira & ALMEIDA Luís Gomes & SOARES Vasco Jorge & TAVARES Vasco Capela, 2022. "Financial literacy: an exploratory analysis in Portugal," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 17(2), pages 252-269, August.
    3. Bomi Nomlala, 2021. "Financial Socialisation of Accounting Students in South Africa," International Journal of Finance & Banking Studies, Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 10(2), pages 01-15, April.
    4. J. Michael Collins & Elizabeth Odders-White, 2021. "Allowances: Incidence in the US and Relationship to Financial Capability in Young Adulthood," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 533-544, September.
    5. Dirk Schoenmaker, 2017. "A macro approach to international bank resolution," Bruegel Policy Contributions 21231, Bruegel.
    6. Migliavacca, Milena & Goodell, John W. & Paltrinieri, Andrea, 2023. "A bibliometric review of portfolio diversification literature," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    7. Elisa Darriet & Marianne Guille & Jean-Christophe Vergnaud, 2021. "Financial Literacy and Numeracy," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 21031, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    8. Pak, Tae-Young, 2023. "Relative deprivation and financial risk taking✰," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    9. Lars Hornuf & Matthias Schmitt & Eliza Stenzhorn, 2020. "Does a Local Bias Exist in Equity Crowdfunding?," CESifo Working Paper Series 8154, CESifo.
    10. Kim, Hohyun & Kim, Kyoung Tae & Hanna, Sherman D., 2022. "The Effect of Investment Literacy on the Likelihood of Retail Investor Margin Trading and Having a Margin Call," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    11. Gangwar, Rachna & Singh, Ritvik, 2018. "Analyzing Factors Affecting Financial Literacy and its Impact on Investment Behavior among Adults in India," MPRA Paper 89452, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Sumaira Khawar & Aamir Sarwar, 2021. "Financial literacy and financial behavior with the mediating effect of family financial socialization in the financial institutions of Lahore, Pakistan," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-11, December.
    13. Grohmann, Antonia, 2018. "Financial literacy and financial behavior: Evidence from the emerging Asian middle class," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 129-143.
    14. Lu, Xiaomeng & Guo, Jiaojiao & Gan, Li, 2020. "International comparison of household asset allocation: Micro-evidence from cross-country comparisons," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    15. Nur Alya Afiqah Binti Mahat & Wei-Theng Lau, 2023. "Financial Literacy, Experience, Risk Tolerance and Investment Behavior: Observations during Pandemic," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(10), pages 558-573, October.
    16. Daniela Balutel & Walter Engert & Christopher S. Henry & Kim P. Huynh & Marcel Voia, 2024. "Explaining bitcoin ownership in Canada: Trends from 2016 to 2021," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(3), pages 777-798, August.
    17. Sengupta, Atri & Deb, Soumya Guha & Mittal, Shashank, 2021. "The underlying motivational process behind portfolio diversification choice decisions of individual investors: An experimental design," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    18. Andreou, Christoforos K. & Andreou, Panayiotis C. & Lambertides, Neophytos, 2021. "Financial distress risk and stock price crashes," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    19. Singh, Bharati, 2021. "A Bibliometric Analysis of Behavioral Finance and Behavioral Accounting," American Business Review, Pompea College of Business, University of New Haven, vol. 24(2), pages 198-230, November.
    20. Gustavo Iamin, 2024. "Are crypto-investors overconfident? The role of risk propensity and demographics. Evidence from Brazil and Portugal," Journal of Risk Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 26(1), pages 147-173, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:18:y:2025:i:5:p:254-:d:1650695. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.