6 Comments 6 Commentsby Jenni McManus
Part of the problem is financial literacy – or the lack of it – and education is at the root of it. Barrass acknowledges she is still getting to grips with New Zealand’s education system but says the lack of financial literacy education in schools in many jurisdictions never ceases to disappoint her.
When Barrass was chief executive of the Financial Services Commission in Gibraltar, the commission partnered with the country’s education department to roll out financial literacy courses in primary and secondary schools. Along with educational institutions, there are also opportunities to tap into workplaces and community groups to boost financial literacy and get better outcomes, she says.
Barrass, who took up the role six weeks ago, says everyone over the age of 18 needs a financial adviser. “An education can get you part of the way, but we all need financial advice in the same way as we need a doctor or a dentist. And there’s a big gap, in my view, between the advice that people need and what’s actually happening in practice.”
Even university students needed to be thinking about how much they were going into debt and how that would impact on their ability to buy a home and have a family.
Financial matters should also be part of the breakfast-table conversation in the home, Barrass says, but concedes that probably isn’t happening. “I think it has to start in childhood.”
Barrass says her own parents stopped paying for her schoolbooks when she was about eight. Instead, they gave her pocket money in the expectation that it would cover her books, as well as sweet and the other things she wanted.
“It was a very early education for me in budgeting,” she says. “When I look back, that really set me up for life in understanding the value of saving and investing.”
Describing herself as a “reasonably well-educated person who has been active in the financial markets all of my career”, Barrass says she doesn’t have the time to plan her own investment strategy.
She relies heavily on her financial adviser in the UK to help plan her investments in a way that provides for her children and household.
His advice is particularly valuable because it is objective, Barrass says. “Because of the regulatory regime in the UK, I know that the advice he is giving me is impartial as to the products I might end up buying, and that is of enormous value to me.”
An economist-turned-regulator, Barrass came to New Zealand as a child and attended university in Christchurch and in Wellington. She did a stint at the Reserve Bank in 1988 before heading to the UK where she became CEO of the UK’s Business Banking Resolution Service and CEO of Gibraltar’s Financial Services Commission. Barrass also held senior roles in various industry bodies such as the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) in UK and the London Banking Association.
| « Incorporate ESG: a legal checklist | Tough times ahead for NZ economy: Nikko economist » |
Special Offers
Sign In to add your comment
© Copyright 1997-2024 Tarawera Publishing Ltd. All Rights Reserved
The role around financial literacy sure sits with Mana Ahungarua / Retirement Commissioner.
They state their role as
“Leading and coordinating of the National Strategy for Financial Capability to improve the financial capability of New Zealanders of all ages”
So why does the FMA now thing this is their role as well?
I am confused