When Associate Professor Michelle Cull began teaching, she noticed that although students had a strong interest in basic personal finance, they lacked knowledge.  "It was a surprise to see how little students understood basic personal finance, even when they were enrolled in an advanced business-related subject," says Cull. "I’ve seen high-achieving students let their grades slip, or not submit assignments on time. Often it would come back to a financial situation affecting their sleep and mental well-being."

To bridge the gap, she considered creating a tool that offers university students advice before they make financial decisions. Assisted by Professor Catherine Attard in the School of Education, she partnered with UniBank — a bank focused on serving the university sector — and a developer from Western’s Launch Pad startup incubator, to design an app called Wallet$mart.  In a survey conducted after five months of app use, Cull found that 75% of the students using it felt it had positively influenced their financial knowledge and money management habits. Students who used all features of the app answered 81% more accurately on questions commonly used to test basic financial literacy than students who weren’t using the app.

Cull’s advocacy for financial literacy education to reduce inequalities has also seen her deliver workshops and programs to high school students, high school teachers, new migrants, women in trades, women returning to work, apprentices and trainees. More recently, Cull developed the Personal Finance Basics micro credential to equip community members with the essential knowledge and life skills to make wise financial decisions relating to employment, budgeting, saving, borrowing, investing and protecting their wealth.  Interestingly, Cull has found that people from all socio-economic backgrounds have something valuable they can learn when it comes to their financial well-being. “People don’t know what they don’t know.”

Cull says that as a nation, more needs to be done to address huge gaps in the level of financial education provided to young people which has contributed to inequalities, particularly for the economically disadvantaged, and for women. “These young people eventually become older people who have made financial decisions that affect their whole life.”

Join us for this engaging event exploring what financial literacy actually is, where the gaps exist, and how we can collectively address financial literacy to empower all Australians.