smart finance

“Smart Finance”, FNF’s financial education initiative for Young Vietnamese

The goal of becoming rich quickly unites many young Vietnamese. However, due to the lack of financial expertise, a growing number of people lose money every year in Ponzi schemes and obscure investment projects. Our new project of video series co-hosted with Lao Dong Newspaper, one of Vietnamese largest newspapers, has pioneered to launch a financial education initiative called “Tai chinh thong minh / Smart Finance“.

Financial education in Asia Pacific

In recent years, the financial market in Vietnam has developed robustly with the jeopardy growth of stock market and the blossoming of financial services, including payments, loans, insurance, investments, and so on.

However, statistics reveal a black shadow on Vietnamese people's financial literacy. According to the “State of Banking and Financial Wellness in Asia Pacific” research conducted in March 2021 across 10 Asia Pacific countries, 67% of Vietnamese respondents find it challenging to build savings. They struggle to achieve both their long and short-term savings goals and to manage existing debts.

Moreover, managing debt is a struggle for 62% of consumers in Vietnam, making it their second top financial management challenge. Worryingly, 45% of Vietnamese consumers admit that they struggle with managing money, which is the highest percentage among the surveyed countries.

(Source: “State of Banking and Financial Wellness in Asia Pacific”, Backbase, 2021)

Lack of financial literacy in Vietnam

The research also reveals that Vietnamese with lower levels of financial literacy report feeling stressed and overwhelmed by their financial situation.

Meanwhile, there is still a lack of trusted information sources in Vietnam. Vietnamese consumers register the highest disapproval rating (71%) when it comes to not knowing where to go for reliable financial advice. They are also the least likely (54%) to use banks’ websites or mobile apps for financial information relating to their personal finances, investment, or retirement planning. These findings prompted FNF Vietnam to initiate a financial literacy project.

Cooperation with Lao Dong TV for an extensive outreach

The series’ target audience is people from 18 to 35 years old, living in urban areas. Recent boom in stock market account and diversity of new financial products reflect a huge demand for financial education going along with our current rapidly growing market. Due to the enormous number of audience in Vietnam, Lao Dong Newspaper and its online media edition - Lao Dong TV, proved to be an ideal partner for us. The newspaper, with a good reputation and millions of views per month, have been receiving a plenty of questions from their audience about the aforementioned concerns.

Since the first episode was published in February 2022, FNF’s Smart Finance series has reached approximately 700,000 views after nearly 6 months. In the battle to the lack of financial literacy for the young population, Smart Finance’s success is achieved by friendly approach. We create simple and fast-consuming contents with episodes in the format of short videos. We inspire our dynamic target groups by basic concepts of saving money, managing debt to avoiding cash-strapped.

Creating useful content for young Vietnamese investors

Most of the program’s speakers are experts from the FNF network in Vietnam. Additionally, FNF Vietnam’s Country Director, Prof. Dr. Andreas Stoffers also participated in several videos. Benefiting from his experience as a former banker, Andreas shared his thoughts on getting ahead financially in a sustainable way as well as investing in yourself, self-motivation, and individual happiness.

(FNF Vietnam’s Country Director (right) with the Chairman of AlphaBooks (left) discussing on the perspectives on wealth and happiness in modern life at Smart Finance’s first episode.)

Besides providing useful knowledge and skills, the program delivers a strong message about the importance of financial education and being financially independent. The lack of understanding of financial planning and the basics of personal finance leads to poor financial decisions that have a negative impact on individuals’ lives. Far more serious, the problem can last for generations when children mimic their parents’ financial behaviors. Otherwise, high financial literacy allows an individual to make thoughtful and informed life decisions in order to pursue their freedom.

Enhancing FNF’s reputation in Vietnam

“Smart Finance” ended up with the 22nd episode last July and was broadcast on the website Laodong.vn and FNF Vietnam’s social media. Its success has opened up opportunity for another season. Individual freedom and property rights are the two most important principles of liberalism. Overall, this project has helped FNF make a significant contribution and to consolidate its good reputation as a liberal stronghold within the country.