The men among 18 and 30 years and the older ones 60 years are those who most frequently consume content related to personal financeswith a proportion of 48% and of 50%respectively.
This is revealed by the Funcas 2025 Survey on Pensions and Financial Educationwhose conclusions also show that the lowest values are among the women older than 60 yearstwo-thirds of whom claim to read or listen to “seldom” either “never” information or advice on personal finances.
“In general, young people are more aware of the importance of financial education for the good health of personal finances and that should be taken advantage of. If attention is focused on the groups that show the most interest and they are offered content adapted to the formats they use to obtain information, financial education training could be made more efficient,” stated the Funcas researcher, Elisa Chuliá.
The survey – carried out on 1,200 people (18-75 years old) residing in Spain last September – states that around the 40% of respondents usually “read or listen to” information and advice “about how to save and invest for good returns”while only the 13% Of those who have (sole) Spanish nationality, they claim to do so “very frequently.”
The study also shows that interest in this information and interest in news about the economy are related, since one in every two respondents (men and women) who expresses a lot or quite a bit of interest in news about the economy consume “very frequently” either “from time to time” information about personal finances (53%). On the other hand, among those who show little or no interest, consumption falls by half (26%).
Data suggests that consumption of information on how to manage personal finances spurs desire of training in this matter, and that the desire for training goes hand in hand with exposure to more information. If the information and training are of quality, a virtuous circle is generated to benefit financial culture,” he stated. Elisa Chuliá.
The inclination to advise, greater with more information consumption
Given the possibility of doing “a three-hour basic course on economics and personal finance” offered free of charge by “your bank”, six out of ten respondents of Spanish nationality (62%) and seven out of ten of foreign origin (72%) answer that they would do it “for sure” or “probably.”
From Funcas they highlight that this disposition is generalized among those surveyed from among 18 and 30 years (91%), while only the 40% of the largest of 60 years they manifest it.
Asked if they would give advice to “a person they trust” about what to do with 20,000 euros saved, half would and the other would abstain.
In turn, the analysis shows that the inclination to provide advice increases with the frequency of information consumption about personal finances.
Thus, the 66% of those who frequently read or listen to information about how save and invest would be encouraged to adviseten points above those who do it “from time to time” (55%) and more than twenty points from those who do it “rarely” or “never” (42%).
Among those who would be encouraged to give advice, the 55% of respondents (men and women) Spanish nationality and the 71% of origin foreign would recommend “investing” (the majority, “in some real estate” or “in an investment fund”), a recommendation followed by putting that saved money in “a fixed-term deposit or a savings account” (29%).
Preference for consultation with a professional
According to Funcas, Spanish society is “very divided” regarding the extent to which it is necessary to have financial knowledge to manage the personal and domestic economy well, with 55% of respondents who agree (“very” or “quite a bit”) with the statement that “Nowadays it is difficult to manage your personal and domestic economy well if you do not have some financial knowledge”.
On the contrary, one in two people surveyed (49%) agrees with the statement that “It is not necessary to have financial knowledge to manage your personal and domestic economy well”.
Likewise, the survey highlights that young people show a greater level of awareness about the usefulness of financial education. In that sense, the 77% of the respondents between 18 and 30 years considers that having financial knowledge facilitates good management of one’s finances, an opinion that is only supported by the 35% of the respondents over 60 years old.
Funcas emphasizes that “This may be shocking in the context of an extended speechaccording to which young people orient their behaviors, including financial ones, more toward satisfying leisure and consumption preferences than toward savings and foresight.”
Other results of the survey are that the 57% of the people surveyed prefer to consult a professional or expert when it comes to “getting the most out of savings”, a percentage that increases among those who declare interest in news about the economy, and information and training on personal finances (61%-64%).
On the other hand, the 61% of respondents disagree with the statement that “Saving is, to a large extent, a matter of will: whoever wants to saves”. According to Funcas, the difference between men and women is “very significant”, since “they believe to a much greater extent that it is a matter of will.”
