Students shine in ‘financial’ literacy

Students from Holy Trinity Lutheran College in Horsham and Nhill College were among the state’s top performers in a national competition aimed at improving financial literacy among teenagers.

Chloe Bolwell from Holy Trinity Lutheran College and Caleb Zanker, Nhill College, produced the state’s best results in their respective age groups in a national Suncorp ESSI Money Challenge run by non-profit Financial Basics Foundation.

Chloe won a 12 to 15-year-old category, while Caleb took out top spot among 16 to 18-yearolds.

“We play a game where you have to get a job and figure out your finances and how to manage them – basically what you’d do as an adult,” Chloe said.

“It was really fun and a great way to get ready for adult life.”

Caleb said he found the experience interesting in its approach to teaching students about earning, spending, saving and investing money.

“I thought I had a pretty decent understanding of all things money related, but I soon learned there is so much more to learn-think about when dealing with money and how you can get the best out of your financial decisions,” he said.

The two-week online challenge featured 5382 secondary students from 183 schools across Australia. The students competed in a virtual world where they could safely put their money-management skills to the test, learning valuable lessons on how to earn, save, spend and invest along the way.

Financial Basics Foundation chief executive Katrina Samios congratulated the pair on the outstanding results and said she hoped everyone who participated learned some important financial life skills they could continue to put into practice.

“Many Australians have been struggling financially this year due to the impact of COVID-19 and teenagers have been among those most affected by job losses,” she said.

“It’s become even more important to teach young people how to make smart financial choices now and into the future.”