Financial literacy is well-defined as the proficiency and ability to understandthe importance of money’s value in life, the way it works in the real world, theway to deal with it, where and how we can earn or spend it at, as well as theenough knowledge that would help people avoid falling into debt. Atthe present time, people all over the world are affected by the trends thatkeeps on changing every day which really affected everyone especially in theway they spend their money or the way their decisions is taken regarding controllingtheir individual finances. In determiningone’s achievement and success in future, financial literacy of a person is an importantissue that people must be aware of because it is categorized as one of the keysto a successful future. Learning how to manage money (money management) in factis just as important as getting it (Danes & Hira, 1987). Nowadays, one of the hugest challenges in thewhole world is the deficient capability in handling individual financialsituations. For those who are incapable to make clever decisions to deal withtheir personal finances, it leads to personal financial problems and might bethe cause of social disturbance. In order to address this vital subject, manyresearchers around the world are determined to study and investigate onpersonal financial literacy among university students in the past few years.However,in the past, the level of financial literacy in the society was weak and it wasnot given any importance.
On the other hand, in this period of globalization,with the enhancement and formation of financial institutions along with the financialeducation that is obtainable the societies’ financial literacy instantlyimprove and they manage to handle their finances reasonably and cleverly. Infact, person’s level of financial literacy is not equivalent to another person’slevel of financial literacy because different individuals have differenteducational backgrounds. For illustration, parentsare the main educators at the primary stage of a child’s life thus it is expectedto render the child’s understanding about the importance of the financialeducation especially the money concept as well as personal finance management.Parents should teach their children the financial literacy with simple andunderstandable money concepts such as decision making while spending forinstance, what are the considerations they should take before making apurchase. Furthermore, the concept of financial literacy plays a hugerole in the young adults’ life as they should prepare themselves with the essentialsof financial knowledge. Young adults who are pampered by giving them creditcards or the ones who apply for educational loans must really learn how tocontrol and manage their spending habits, especially once they are universitystudents because their responsibilities are wider and heavier, not as what itwas during school time.
Moreover, economists had revealed that the older generationsin the territory of United States are woefully under-informed about the basicfinancial concepts, which has seriously undermined the ability to make informeddecision with regards to saving, mortgages, as well as their retirement plans. (Mitchell, 2007). It is important for the elder generationsor pensioners to completely understand that they should prepare themselves with basic financialknowledge and skills on how to manage their stepping down pension properly.Finally,to explore the concept of financial literacy further, researchers are committedand concerned to examine what categories of independent variables affects thestudents’ financial literacy significantly, which included the financialeducation background and awareness, attitudes towards monetary concept, sourceof finance, the social factors for example family, peer pressure, social media aswell as controlling variables which include gender.
