ĠEMMA publishes the Research Analysis on the ESF co-financed Campaign on Financial Capability and Tertiary Education Students. The Research Analysis report identifies the following key points:
- There is a general consensus that life goals and lifestyle played an important role in defining financial capability.
- There is a unanimous consensus that a monthly income is an asset to financial capability; subject to the extent of which this allows saving for the future, for contingency and for recreation (in this order).
- It is apparent that the family background transpired as playing an important role in how one manages his/her finances, as one student stated.
- Most limitations to financial capability are correlated to the student status.
- The limited data that focus group participants provided on retirement testifies to a strong disengagement in view of what was perceived as a very long-term projection.
- There is evidence pointing that financial planning increases with age and moving on through the lifecycle since as one grows older certain things come to mind such as setting up an emergency fund
- Planning for retirement at this point in their lives is associated with the inability to save money due to their limited income and expenses related to the cost of living in general, the fact that they are still in the process of purchasing capital gods, such as buying a car and their first property.
The report shows that out of the 11 participants, 2 said that they had seen the material which was shown to them, as adverts on buses and billboards. Critical remarks included that It’s a bit patronising” and that “The posters aren’t something you would remember.” Notwithstanding, there was some praise in the Maltese version of the content. Participants flagged online content on YouTube as effective.
The report shows that changes since participation in the pre-campaign focus group include setting up an emergency fund and initiating a membership in a trade union. Whereas the setting up of the emergency fund was not explicitly associated with participation in the pre-campaign focus group or exposure to the media campaign, there was an explicit declaration that the student joined the trade union as a result of participating in the discussion of the pre-campaign focus group. Otherwise, similar to the pre-campaign phase, in the post-campaign phase students generally emerged as sensitised to planning ahead and spending with care, despite the limited financial assets.