National Financial Literacy Strategy (Education in a Competitive and Globalizing World)

Today's increasingly complex financial services market offers consumers a vast array of products, services, and providers to choose from to meet their financial needs. While this degree of choice provides consumers with a great number of options, it also requires that they be equipped with the information, knowledge, and skills to evaluate their options and identify those that best suit their needs and circumstances. This book explores The Financial Literacy Strategy which aims to help consumers understand how to prevent becoming involved in transactions that are financially destructive, how to avoid becoming victims of fraud, and how to exercise their consumer protection rights. Financial literacy can empower consumers to be better shoppers, allowing them to obtain goods and services at lower cost. This optimises their household budgets, providing more opportunity to consume and save or invest. Comprehensive education can help provide individuals with the financial knowledge necessary to initiate savings plans, manage debt, and make strategic investment decisions for their retirement or their children's education. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.