What is a financial literacy program?

You can provide your employees with the skills they need to better manage their personal finances by running a financial literacy program. It can include information on a range of personal money management topics such as budgeting, savings, debt and consumer credit, and superannuation.

You can provide this information in a range of ways such as seminars, information brochures, and training courses.

Here are a few options to help you think about what might work in your workplace.

You can also check out our case studies to see how other organisations run financial literacy education programs.

Use existing services and make them more accessible to your employees	the Foundation's UnderstandingMoney website and handbook the Australian Securities and Investment Commission's consumer website (www.fido.asic.gov.au) local banks, superannuation funds or other financial services providers may run financial literacy seminars for free. A word of caution: you will need to investigate whether or not external seminars are vehicles for selling financial products, or providing inappropriate advice. If they are, you could risk losing the trust of your employees. For further information on the difference between financial literacy education and financial advice, visit our Is it financial advice? page.
Use your existing communication tools	such as notice boards, intranets, and employee newsletters to distribute financial information, and maybe even include regular good money management tips - check out our tips page for suggestions
Extend existing employee services or use them as a way to engage employees in financial literacy programs	your employee welfare/counselling service could be expanded to provide support on financial problems. You will need to make sure that this service does not include financial advice or if it does, that the requirements of the Corporations Act 2001 are met (visit our Is it financial advice? page for more information) superannuation programs can be complemented by financial literacy education initiatives salary sacrifice programs can be supported by financial literacy education sessions employee well being programs can be expanded to include financial literacy education components employee benefits or rewards can be rolled out with financial literacy support.
Run a training program	use an existing training program - check out our Education materials page to see if there are existing packages that you can use. develop your own program. Visit our Developing education materials page or contact the Foundation for more information. integrate financial literacy into existing programmes such as the training for apprentices, trainees or cadets: check out the financial literacy competency standards guide (PDF, 138KB), and talk to your training provider, or contact the Foundation to find out how. get a program designed just for your needs - Registered Training Organisations such as TAFEs and private colleges can do this as can many private service providers. Note: if you don't have an Australian Financial Services Licence, be careful to observe the requirements of the Corporations 2001 Act (for more information visit our Is it financial advice? page).
Join our Educators and Trainers Network	get the latest financial literacy news and contribute to the development of ideas and practice. Visit our network page for more information