Press release

7 Dec 2022 Ljubljana, SI

EY Slovenia offers financial literacy workshops to primary schools

As part of the global EY Ripples campaign, which aims to positively impact the lives of 1 billion people worldwide, EY Slovenia launched an initiative to bring financial literacy to children.

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As part of the global EY Ripples campaign, which aims to positively impact the lives of 1 billion people worldwide, EY Slovenia launched an initiative to bring financial literacy to children. After an excellent response to our first workshop and large demand from elementary schools who want their students to learn money management skills, we decided to make our workshops available to schools this year as well.

Money is a part of everybody’s life, often since early childhood. As it is an important issue, we believe it is very important to learn the basics of money as soon as possible – money can bring freedom and satisfaction, but also cause worries and problems.

Topics such as money, taxes, savings and trading are especially appropriate for older elementary school students, because this is the age when children start managing their own money, some are already start earning money, and are saving for or considering larger purchases. We were positively surprised by how well some children already know this area. For example, they know why we pay taxes and why the tax on chocolates is higher than the tax on books.

They also know why we have to pay for items in the store, but not for drugs at the pharmacy. And not only do they know that virtual currencies and NFTs exist, but some of them are also already trading in them. However, since the topic of virtual assets can be difficult to understand and is linked to many traps, we want the children to be well-educated before trading in virtual currencies and other assets.

Our colleagues Liva Preglav from Tax and Marša Vošinek from the Financial accounting advisory services a prepared an attractive and dynamic workshop, during which the children learn to manage money in a simulation of real life. The simulation includes a brief introduction of taxes, savings, virtual currencies and NFTs in an environment that roughly illustrates the current situation in the financial market. Together, they learn to save, trade virtual currencies, and pay for the running costs of living.

Marša Vošinek, the idea leader, explains: "This was our first initiative as part of the EY Ripples campaign. We have put in a lot of work, time and, above all, brainstorming about how to make this wide and complex topic approachable and understandable for young people. Our experience with elementary schools is really fantastic – the children surprised us with active participation and good knowledge of the content we discussed. I’m glad we were able to use our game to explain to them the importance of money management skills."

"This workshop was a completely new experience for me. It was a challenge to find a fun way to  teach the children about topics such as tax, austerity and the crypto currencies. The children were full of energy and happy participate and share their stories and experiences with savings. I hope that the workshop gave them a solid basis of understanding of the purpose of taxation and the importance of responsible savings management," added Liva Preglav.

As part of EY global social responsibility campaign EY Ripples, we are happy to share our expertise and knowledge of the financial world with the children, who, after all, are the future or our world.  And at EY, we always strive to build a better working world for all.