The Aging Population and Pension Uncertainty in Mexico
Financial literacy has become a fundamental tool as Mexico faces an aging population and uncertainty surrounding pension systems. Sofía Macías Liceaga, a finance personal expert, emphasizes the impending crisis due to demographic changes and pension concerns.
Currently, Mexico has 17,121,580 adults aged 60 and over, accounting for 12.8% of the total population, according to the National Population Council (Conapo). By 2030, the country will reach a stage where there are more older adults than younger individuals. By 2070, the percentage of this segment will be 34.2% of the population.
Challenges in Integrating Financial Education
Macías Liceaga stresses the importance of saving and investing consciously, as millennials will face this crisis, along with future generations since a country’s money is not infinite. Moreover, 54.4% of workers in Mexico have independent or informal employment, limiting their access to social security and retirement savings, as per the study “Mexico: How are we doing with retirement savings?” by Vanguard and Mexico, ¿Cómo Vamos?
Financial Education as Public Policy
In this context, financial education should become a public policy. The federal government initiated this by launching a strategy towards 2030, with one of its action lines being the integration into formal educational plans.
This isn’t the first attempt. During Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration, a new educational model was created, characterized by curricular autonomy seeking to follow equity and inclusion principles. This model included new knowledge such as financial education, programming, robotics, and entrepreneurship.
Challenges in Integrating Finance into Formal Education
Macías Liceaga was invited by the Secretariat of Public Education in Chiapas to teach a summer course on financial education, training facilitators who taught mathematics and physics.
Today, she highlights two significant challenges in integrating financial education into educational plans: the existing mandatory content in schools and teacher training.
- Existing Mandatory Content: Schools, both public and private, must cover certain mandatory content. Adding more subjects or topics can be challenging.
- Teacher Training: Teachers may feel alienated from these topics or lack personal experience learning them. They might not feel authorized to explain these concepts to students.
Macías Liceaga also points out that financial education should not only be taught in classrooms but also at home, as many tasks are done outside of school. Including financial education topics in existing subjects could be a solution to reduce resistance towards educational loads.
Importance of Financial Literacy
Annamaría Lusardi from the OECD’s Financial Education Committee emphasizes that managing finances is now as crucial as learning to read and write in the past. Basic financial knowledge should be acquired at an early age, ideally as a standalone subject in school curricula. Workplaces and learning spaces are also suitable for imparting financial education.
