Financial Literacy is being increasingly recognized as an essential life skill for people from all backgrounds. Inadequate financial knowledge often leads to poor financial decisions that can have a disastrous effect on the well-being of individuals, families, and entire communities.

Financial Literacy in Asia Pacific
According to a Financial Quotient (Fin-Q) Survey undertaken by Citi in October 2007 to assess the financial knowledge levels and personal finance habits of individuals in eleven markets in Asia Pacific, only 39% of respondents described their overall level of money management as good/very good and only 18% of respondents had a retirement savings account.

Why FinEdx?
At each of the four Financial Education Summits funded by the Citi Foundation and held in Asia Pacific between 2004 and 2008, delegates have expressed a clear need for more information sharing. We decided that setting up an online knowledge and learning hub would be a significant way to support the financial education community on an ongoing basis. Because it is designed to connect people from many different organizations and countries, it was only natural that we called it the Financial Education Exchange, and this soon became known as FinEdx (pronounced “Fin-Ed-Ex”) for short.

While recognizing that there are varying definitions of financial education available, the following definitions have been adapted for FinEdx. Where possible, we have provided additional resources for each of the definitions.

Financial literacy:			the ability for individuals to make informed decisions regarding their personal finances
Financial capability:			often used interchangeably with ’financial literacy’ in some countries such as the UK where the Financial Services Authority defines financial capability as “being able to manage money; keeping track of your finances; planning ahead; choosing financial products; and staying informed about financial matters.”
Financial education:			educational initiatives that help to achieve personal financial literacy/capability
Economic education:			educational initiatives that help to increase understanding of how the economy as a whole works; also known as 'economics education' and often inter-related with 'financial education'
Financial inclusion:			access for low-income individuals to appropriate financial products and services; this includes people having the skills, knowledge and understanding to make best use of those products and services through interventions such as financial education.