Your Mission Should You Choose toaccept it ... is to Get Financially Fit!

Financial Literacy Programme-Trinidad & Tobago

The National Financial Literacy Programme (NFLP) of Trinidad and Tobago was launched on January 31, 2007. In nine days’ time therefore – i.e. on January 31, 2010, the Programme will be officially three years old. If the key objectives of the programme were to be summarised in one sentence, it would be:

 "to sensitise persons to the importance of making prudent and sensible decisions regarding the use of their money"

We, in Trinidad and Tobago, believe that we have been able to achieve this objective to a considerable degree. In fact, at the launch of our latest publications on October 27, 2009, Governor Ewart Williams indicated that, “There is no doubt that we have come a long way over 36 short months”.

Why a Financial Literacy programme in Trinidad & Tobago? In the years preceding the start of the programme, Trinidad & Tobago had been enjoying rapid economic growth on the strength of high prices and expanding capacity in the energy sector. There were steady increases in employment and consequently, in the level of personal incomes. These increases however, were not accompanied by an increase in personal savings but rather, by sharp increases in private consumption and rising consumer debt. In fact, personal savings were relatively low and many persons were poorly prepared for retirement.

At the same time, the buoyancy of the economy gave rise to the creation of more complex financial instruments and the average person then found himself (or herself) now having to make financial decisions and choices from a wide and growing range of financial products and services. In too many cases, these decisions were made on the basis of insufficient knowledge and a lack of appreciation for the highly probable outcome of poor financial decisions. It was therefore obvious and critical that the financial literacy or financial capability of the population had to be improved. The Central Bank of T&T was given the responsibility of spearheading the FL programme and our mandate was to reach the entire population. We had therefore, not only to find ways of doing so, but also to stir up and maintain the interest of persons at all levels of the society. 

As is the case with all Central Banks, the CBTT was in an ideal position to perform this leadership role because the confusion between information and advertising does not arise. In addition, the Bank’s credibility in the provision of unbiased, impartial and accurate information, consistent with its supervisory and regulatory function within the financial services sector, places it in the best position to identify gaps and other relevant issues in the market place.

What exactly have we achieved? To date, with the assistance of Government and corporate funding for this specific programme, we have been able to reach all sectors of the population, using various means, methods and media.

In 2007, very early in the life of the programme, we undertook a baseline survey, using a sample of approximately 1000 households, drawn randomly from communities across Trinidad & Tobago. Questionnaires were completed by persons aged 16 and over.

The survey covered several aspects of financial literacy, including:

The baseline survey was essential to determining the essential areas of focus for the Programme. The various results of the survey pointed to the need to concentrate our programme in the following areas:

Particular attention was given to the notion of Planning Ahead since the survey showed that about 33% of persons over the age of 60 continue to work because they needed additional income in order to maintain at least an acceptable standard of living in retirement. Furthermore, 54% of retirees did not have an occupational or personal pension plan. Almost half of retirees (45%) reported that their current {household} income was insufficient to give them the standard of living they hoped to have in their retirement, while a substantial percentage of respondents (69%) were relying on their Government pension (NIS/Old Age) for their retirement income.

These were not the only realities that were revealed by the survey – suffice it to say that we recognize the importance of reaching all groups and appreciate the fact that we cannot reach them all by using one methodology.

As you are all aware, persons have different financial requirements at different phases of their lives. In recognition of this fact, we have continued to use a variety of methods to deliver our message to persons on the importance of making wise use of their money. We make effective use of our mascot, ‘Mr Bill’, as well as our tag-line, “It’s Your Money….Know it to Grow it.”

Our priority groups include:

Our work with the Students and young adults includes work with our primary school students, as well as with our secondary schools students – of which we are particularly proud. To date, we have undertaken Financial Literacy sessions with every primary school (a total of 526 primary schools – 476 public and 50 private) in Trinidad and Tobago, at the Level of Stds. 2 & 3. At the end of the academic year 2007/2008, we reached a total of 19, 500 students in 358 Government schools in 608 classes. At the end of academic year 2008/2009, the number of students reached increased to 29,600 in 485 schools (447 Government and 38 private) in 898 classes. For this past first term of the academic year 2009/2010, we have conducted sessions at 120 schools (118 Government and 2 private), reaching 9,765 students through 279 classes. This primary school programme is on-going.

In this academic year 2009/2010, the Ministry of Education has agreed to and has approved the incorporation of our secondary school programme into the secondary school curriculum. In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the Central Bank is currently conducting several ‘Train-the-Trainer’ sessions with secondary school teachers as part of this process.

A variety of methods and media are used to reach all public groups, including face-to-face interaction, television and radio advertisements, as well as print media.

Interactive face-to-face sessions (including Train-the-Trainer sessions) allow us to reach other diverse groups, including employees, retirees, military personnel, security personnel, religious groups, community groups etc.

In fact, we are currently preparing a number of educational programmes in financial literacy for a television series in the coming months – all in an effort to reach out to as many persons as possible (particularly young persons).

Additionally, short financial tips are frequently published in the print media, and also occasionally displayed over a 3-month period each time, on electronic public billboards. A number of 30-second and 60-second ads are also aired on radio and on television. 

Pamphlets and booklets detailing specific/targeted topics have been developed and some of our publications include the following:

All our publications are available on our website:

www.national-financial-literacy.org.tt

In our mandate to reach everyone in the country, it is important that we include the differently-abled. We have worked with the Trinidad & Tobago Blind Welfare Association to deliver sessions to this group. Furthermore, some of our financial literacy articles and distribution leaflets have been converted into braille and have been placed in our national libraries where visually-impaired persons can access library services. We continue to work at transcription of our documents into braille.

Our website allows the visually-impaired to obtain information through the use of text-to-voice-conversion technology. Visitors to the website also have the opportunity to evaluate some critical measurements of their financial well-being (debt/service ratio; net worth), as well as download our publications. There are links to the site from the Central Bank website, as well as from the website of other commercial banks and non-bank financial institutions.

We have not forgotten the hearing-impaired and as a consequence, we now include simultaneous signing in our television advertisements.

To focus a bit on a more recent initiative, the NFLP also promotes enterprise and business development throughout the national community. Research was carried out on the Small and Micro Enterprises sector in Trinidad and Tobago with the aim of developing specific financial literacy programmes relevant to small and micro entrepreneurs. A three-part series of booklets, entitled, Living the Entrepreneurial Dream, has been developed and includes information pertinent to the development and operation of small and micro enterprises. The three booklets in the series are:

  1. Start-up and Operational Issues (Part 1)
  2. Record Keeping for Small and Micro Enterprises (Part 2)
  3. Financial Services – Where to find Assistance for your Business (Part 3)

The programme encourages persons, particularly, graduates of the secondary and tertiary system, to view starting their own business as a viable employment option. and the programme also provides guidance to new entrepreneurs in dealing with various issues that can impact their business. Several public small and micro-business expositions have been held for the benefit of interested stakeholders over the past 16 months. A training programme is also being planned for this sector and small-business persons would be invited to participate. The relevant training manual for this undertaking has already been produced.

In short, ladies and gentlemen, we in Trinidad and Tobago are using various means at our disposal to reach all persons at all levels of the society.

The possession of knowledge is simply not enough, however! What we do with the knowledge that we have is what really counts. Therefore, for the programme to have an impact, attitude and behaviour must change. We try to affect change by engaging persons in discussions on ‘Money Scripts’ which are, in essence, the various attitudes and beliefs about money which we have all internalised, usually since childhood and which, as adults, may be so deeply embedded in our psyche that we sometimes subconsciously act in self-defeating ways regarding our money matters.

That being said, I want to share with you some lessons learned, given our experiences over our three years of existence. In your pursuit of promoting financial literacy, be assured of this:

  1. Strive to change attitudes. Financial Literacy is not only about dollars and cents. It is also about changing mindsets, attitudes and ultimately, behaviour.
  2. Find creative ways to reach everyone – this programme is not only for lower-income earners. A higher level of income does not automatically translate into a higher level of financial literacy.
  3. Be mindful of your audience and find creative and engaging ways to maintain their interest and awareness of your programme. 
  4. Do not assume the level of knowledge of your audience. 
  5. Give your audience reason to trust you. Be straight with your facts. Discussions concerning money can become the cause of various emotions and stressful situations. Learn to read carefully between the lines and emotions, particularly those that seem to say “I don’t care!” or “What’s the use?” or “I have all the answers!”
  6. Always seize the ‘teachable moment’ to underscore the importance of financial literacy. You may be sure that persons will listen!

On behalf of the Central Bank of Trinidad & Tobago, I extend sincere congratulations to the Caribbean Regional and Technical Assistance Centre - CARTAC on the launch of its Financial Literacy Public Education & website.

Elizabeth Austin, January 19, 2010