With 12 family members and a busy schedule between school and home, setting budgets and financial goals were a whole new world for Yasmine when she attended a financial capability workshop as part of the ABCN Leadership Summit.

In the session, students explored what ‘financial capability’ means and through the connections and conversations with their mentors they increased their confidence to have conversations about money. After considering practical examples, they created a financial goal of their own with a budget and savings plans to support it.

‘My financial knowledge now is much better than before. When I went to the workshop, I didn’t know much about financial stuff,’ Yasmine said. ‘Listening to the speakers talk about their experience, and give examples, made me learn more about savings and think about wiser spending. Now, I always research my products before I purchase them.’

The content, delivered by ABCN Head of Program Development Maree Drury, is not about providing financial advice. Rather, the aim is to start building the skills and knowledge students need to make thoughtful and considered decisions about money, to talk confidently with family and friends about finances and set financial goals that align with their personal values. The ABCN and Ecstra partnership addresses the problem that young people from low socio-economic backgrounds perform poorly on financial capability measures.¹

Yasmine said one of the highlights was putting into practice examples from students who changed their spending habits as a result of learning how to set financial goals.

‘I’ve learned how to decide what goals are most important and then put money towards those purchases,’ she said.

The NSW student is also reducing how much she spends at the school canteen, instead focusing on bringing her food to school from home.

‘The other day my mum asked me to do some grocery shopping for the family, and I used this ABCN experience as a guide,’ Yasmine said.

‘I had a $500 budget to get everything from the grocer, including cleaning supplies. I looked at what was on sale and checked the brands. I was proud of my purchases and saved the family $100. It made my mum cry with happiness, and I was very proud.’

Tips to build financial capability

• Be curious, ask questions
• Do your research and get good impartial advice
• Set a budget and spend less than you earn
• Shop around
• Sleep on it!

1 Thomson, S., De Bortoli, L., Underwood, C., & Schmid, M. (2020). PISA 2018: Financial Literacy in Australia. Australian Council for Educational Research. https://research.acer.edu.au/ozpisa/48