More than half of surveyed secondary students said managing money was complicated and they did not know where to start, despite more than nine in ten recognising it as an important life skill. The findings came from a joint survey by Shanghai Commercial Bank and Po Leung Kuk, which collected responses from more than 700 students in Secondary 4 to Secondary 6.
Nearly half of the students said they had never kept financial records, either on paper or electronically. A planned financial-education programme is expected initially to benefit about 2,400 students. It will use MBTI personality analysis to help them understand their financial tendencies, alongside interactive investment games and simulations.
A separate survey of more than 600 people aged 65 or above found that six in ten lacked confidence in managing their finances and judging whether investment information was genuine.
Eight in ten older respondents said they had received suspected scam information in the previous three months. Among them, nearly seven in ten received at least one suspected scam call a week, while nearly four in ten said such calls came almost daily. The types they were most concerned about were callers posing as customer-service staff, relatives or friends, and officials.
The partners plan to train 80 anti-scam ambassadors to take prevention messages to nearly 8,000 older adults. The community programme will also offer talks on technology and scam prevention, financial management, healthy living and emotional resilience, as well as one-to-one consultations and case support.