Level of Financial Education among University Students of Business: A Study in the Peruvian Scenario

Financial education can help reduce social exclusion and develop people economically. Knowing basic financial concepts allows people to make appropriate savings, expenses, and investment decisions. The objective of this research is to measure the level of financial education of students of a private university in Lima, the capital of Peru, who have already received formal instruction in finance-related topics. A total of 365 university students from the sixth to the tenth semester of Business school were surveyed. Financial education was measured following the methodology applied by three institutions (FINRA, CONDUSEF, and Banamex-UNAM) to evaluate the knowledge that young people have about the dimensions: savings, interest rates, inflation, credit card use, and budgeting. The results show that young people are knowledgeable about budgeting; they know about saving, but not in terms of economic security; likewise, inflation, interest rates, and credit cards are topics that they still need to pay more attention to and take care of. It was concluded that the level of knowledge on financial topics of the students of the private university under study is low because they do not manage to apply all the knowledge acquired in class as part of their daily habits. In this sense, it is emphasized that the State should include more related courses in the curriculum of basic education, a recommendation that was also mentioned in similar research.