Especially in the context of ageing populations and the expected progressive shift away from public pension provision, based on pay-as-you-go schemes, to privately funded schemes where people have to assume responsibility for their own retirement savings, enhancing financial literacy becomes essential.
Aristotle’s wisdom that “education is the best provision for old age”, understood also in this specific sense, therefore still holds today; and it should provide guidance for public policy. Programmes to enhance people’s ability to understand some basic financial and economic concepts (such as interest compounding, percentages, etc.) have demonstrated their usefulness, especially for less-educated participants.