As investing becomes more accessible, should financial education evolve?

[SINGAPORE] Financial literacy concepts – such as budgeting, saving and responsible spending – are already taught in Singapore schools.

These are important foundations, but there may also be a case for compulsory exposure to the fundamentals of investing and financial decision-making at the secondary or tertiary education level.

Introducing these concepts early gives young people a key investing advantage: time.

As longer lifespans, inflation and rising living costs place greater pressure on long-term planning, learning to make effective financial choices cannot wait until adulthood.

Sure, universities and public agencies offer modules or courses, but these are optional and often taken mainly by students with an existing interest in finance. 

As a result, many young adults are left to learn about investing on their own, where it is easy for beginners to swing between excessive caution and emotionally driven decisions.

My own experience was no different.

Early in my career, I invested reluctantly in my former company’s shares – which gave employees a fairly generous discount – after persuasion from my manager at the time. Still, I kept most of my money safely in the bank.

Later, to make up for that missed opportunity, I overcompensated by buying familiar Singapore stocks based more on hearsay than understanding.

I also held on to losses for years in hopes they would recover. They never did.

Much of what I learnt came later through a mix of experience and self-learning, and I often found myself wishing I had received structured guidance earlier.

I am not alone in feeling that way. A 2022 study by Syfe found that while interest in investing was high, more than half of the respondents still wanted more support and guidance to direct their investment decisions.

That suggests practical investing knowledge may still be unevenly acquired, despite the abundance of financial content available online.

But abundance does not always equate to clarity.

Between TikTok clips, Reddit threads, meme stocks and self-styled finance influencers, it can be difficult for beginners to distinguish investing fundamentals from hype, speculation or short-term market noise.

So what should structured exposure to investing look like for students?

For one thing, it should not focus on chasing quick returns, but on understanding how markets function.

This includes how companies are evaluated, why markets react to economic or geopolitical events, and why investing often involves more than simply following hype or short-term price movements.

In the process, students may also develop a better understanding of what companies in Singapore actually do, and how industries fit into the wider economy.

Crucially, it teaches them to look beyond headlines about inflation, wars or artificial intelligence-driven semiconductor demand. Understanding the mechanics behind the news helps students to see how such developments affect businesses, markets and everyday life.

Through simulated portfolios, students could observe how such events affect markets and companies over time.

Aside from helping to dispel the misconception that investing is only for people with large amounts of money, it may also teach something less often discussed: how fear, greed, impatience and risk tolerance shape financial decisions.

Understanding your emotions can sometimes matter just as much as financial knowledge.

Investing should not be treated as a niche interest reserved for finance professionals or the wealthy.

Much like home economics teaches students the basics of managing a household, an introductory personal finance curriculum would equip Singapore’s young people with a toolkit for navigating adult financial life, even if they ultimately decide to keep things simple.