Money Management, Savings and Investment as Central Topics in Financial Education: How Do High School Students Perceive Them?

The purpose of the study focused on analyzing how high school students perceive the topics of money management, savings and investment. For this purpose, it was necessary to use the instrument designed by the National Commission of Retirement Savings Systems (2017) from which the items on money management, savings and investment were taken. The sample was nonprobabilistic by self-determination, and the instrument was applied to a total of 207 young people born between 2000 and 2001 in the municipalities of Cosamaloapan and Carlos A. Carrillo belonging to the state of Veracruz. The data were captured in SPSS v23 software for descriptive analysis. The main findings suggest that there are diverse conceptions about the financial terms under study, such is the case of the effect of inflation, likewise the participants had difficulty in performing arithmetic operations that would lead them to answer correctly, they did not know what type of mathematical operation they should do and selected an answer option at random. In selecting the best option for saving money, most participants appropriately chose the financial tool. Regarding the protection of family savings in the face of inflation, four savings possibilities were presented. However, the decision for a specific instrument is not clear. This exposes the lack of knowledge of the operating mechanisms and purpose of each financial tool. The deficiencies identified in making decisions regarding money expose the need to formalize financial education for young people.