Calculate the interest capitalized on a Livret A account over several years, measure the impact of inflation on your investments, master the concepts of risk and return… Essential skills but not within everyone’s reach, according to an international survey carried out by the OECD on the financial literacy of adults published in December 2023. France obtained a score of 12.45/20 and is placed in 14th position out of 39 countries that participated in the study. As for the young people surveyed, only half of 15-17 year olds consider cryptocurrencies to be risky investments.
The time has come to get up to date with three books released in recent weeks. THE Short financial education manual by Anne-Claire Bennevault (Editions Deboeck Supérieur) goes over the basics of finance and economics, in particular to thwart influencer scams. The author knows the subject well since she founded the financial education platform Spak.
The book is full of enlightening anecdotes – the miracle of Wörgl, raw inner happiness… – and quizzes allowing you to check your knowledge. For example, how many months of salary is it recommended to devote to precautionary savings?*
Playful sketches or initiatory novel
For his part, Guillaume Simonin, the creator of the Wizify platform, publishes The Visual Guide to Financial Education (Maxima editions). He dissects the main investments and gives his advice on budgeting, taxation and investment, all accompanied by fun sketches. Guillaume Simonin is not at his trial run since he is also the author of Loose leavessuccessfully distributed on social networks, which sift through a theme – income tax, real estate taxation, euro funds, etc. – in a few very simple diagrams.
Everything we didn’t teach you about moneyby Alix Willemez (Maxima editions), finally presents itself in the form of an initiatory novel, in which the reader follows Mariam, a little girl who discovers the secrets of finance through contact with Mme Beauregard. This mentor’s teaching is not limited to the proper management of personal savings. Mariam also learns to generate passive income – an annuity – and to emancipate herself financially by becoming an entrepreneur.
*The correct answer is three to six months’ salary.