The Programme

Financial education means different things to different people, but a constant theme running through various definitions is:

Financial Education is designed to develop a financially literate person. A financially literate person has the ability to make informed judgements and effective decisions about the use and the management of money.

Some of the most complex decisions New Zealanders make everyday involve financial issues. The question is – who is educating adults while in employment on financial topics such as saving for retirement, reducing debt and where to go for financial advice.

The Financial Literacy in Our Workplace (FLOW) Trust sees the workplace as an excellent place to learn about financial education as everyone faces daily financial decisions from how to manage their pay through to superannuation and other benefits. Having a job may mean a pay cheque, but it doesn’t necessarily mean everyone knows what to do with the money they earn. The ability to manage and save money is an essential skill for all New Zealanders regardless of age, cultural background and income.

“FLOW is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to raising the levels of Financial Literacy in New Zealand. We identified that the best way to reach adults with our programmes was in the work place; so we developed a programme for employers to provide to their staff.”

Kevin McCaffrey, Director, the FLOW Trust

How the FLOW programme works

The FLOW Programme is a set of four modules, held over two days in the workplace. Workshops do not give budget advice, they focus on giving learners the knowledge they need to make informed budgeting decisions, and to know where to find help when they need it. Workshops take a multi-disciplinary approach to develop knowledge, awareness, attitudes, values, and skills that will develop capability in both individuals and their community to make wise financial decisions.

The workshops allow individuals to develop the capabilities they need to recognise whether their current behaviour patterns are likely to allow them to reach their goals, and make the behaviour changes they need to achieve their goals.

Workshops outline

Workshops focus on four key topics:

• keeping out of debt
• understanding where your money goes
• savings
• what to do next

The content for the workshops was modelled on the Retirement Commission’s Personal Financial Management Framework 2006.

Workshop examples

Use of Credit cards and the impact of interest are  examples of things people need to take into account when you’re considering debt.