Financial Literacy and Financial Decision-Making of Australian Secondary School Students

Young people need have the skills and knowledge to make sound financial decisions now and as adults and to support them to engage confidently and successfully in economic life. They must navigate a much more complex financial landscape and assume greater financial responsibility at a younger age than previous generations and this poses considerable challenges. A current issue for policy makers in Australia is the relative scarcity of data on young people's financial decision-making. In particular, there is little current evidence about the social and economic contexts and influences, such as peers, families and advertising that shape the financial decisions of young people around the world and in Australia. It is important to determine how financial decision-making is currently experienced by young people. A better understanding of the contexts in which young people make financial decisions, and their experiences of financial decision-making, will provide important and useful information that can shape financial education policies – the core goal of which is to ensure all Australians are able to make confident, sound financial decisions. This study, which is part of a larger study of the financial literacy of young Australians, investigates how financial decision-making at a time of transition from secondary school to adult life is conceptualised by young Australians. The data for the study is derived from focus group interviews with young Australians aged 16 and 17 years. Participants from 9 Australian schools that are diverse in their geographic location and student cohort were chosen for the study. The interviews explored the context and attitudes relating to their financial decision-making