Sustainable financial literacy

Abstract of the "Sustainable financial literacy" project

Description of the project “Sustainable financial literacy”

The “Sustainable financial literacy” (susfinlit) project aims to sensitize undergraduate students to financial issues with a particular focus on sustainability and to enable them to take action. The background to this is the increasing relevance of financial decisions in the course of life, which require sound knowledge and reflective judgment in the face of increasingly complex economic and ecological conditions.

The project is scheduled to run for two years and is divided into several successive phases. The first phase is the scientific and didactic processing of the theoretical foundations in the field of sustainable financial literacy. This includes basic financial skills, aspects of behavioral economics and current research on sustainable consumption and investment.

Based on these findings, a practical business game will be designed and developed in a second step. This will enable students to experience, reflect on and master real-life financial decision-making situations in a protected learning environment. In particular, topics such as

• Pension provision
• Disability insurance
• Insurance cover
• Sustainable investments
• Impact of climate change on financial risks
• Financial health and well-being

The simulation game will initially be tested in a pilot phase and then iteratively developed further. A special feature of the concept is the involvement of trained student tutors, who are responsible for conducting the simulation game and thus also benefit themselves in their role as multipliers.

At the heart of the project is an action-oriented educational approach that teaches students not only specialist knowledge, but also decision-making skills in dealing with financial issues. Sustainable financial literary is seen as an essential prerequisite for a self-determined life and for actively shaping social transformation processes.

At the same time, the project contributes to raising awareness of the link between individual financial planning and global sustainability goals, for example in the context of climate risks, social justice or ethical consumption.