The research conducted by the Mannheim Institute for Financial Education (MIFE) contributes to finding answers to these questions. This is because scientific, evidencebased insights can be used to make educational activities more targeted. And conferences such as the one today, which promote the regular exchange of ideas between the business community, academics and practitioners, are also important to that end.
• The usual assumption is that computer literacy is age- and income-related and that it will take a long time before older and less affluent (or at least less educated) people get comfortable with electronic payments and paperless transactions. But we could be in for some surprises as governments move quickly to electronic benefit payments, which mainly affect older and less affluent groups.