Financial Literacy And Planning

91% of Indian parents feel that their children don’t have financial knowledge. And the major reason for that is they don’t initiate the conversation. In fact, most parents feel that financial literacy is important but only 34% of them regularly talk to children about money management. Here is what parents should be doing instead: → Discuss money openly and explain how you make financial decisions, set budgets and manage expenses. → With digital payments, children overlook the value of physical money. Show them physical denominations so that they understand their true value. → Teach them the difference between needs and wants for them to understand the importance of prioritizing and saving for the future. → Turn grocery shopping into a learning experience. Ask them to find deals to save money. This not only teaches budgeting but also basic math skills. → Encourage them to save by using a piggy bank or a savings app. Research shows that children who learn to save early are more likely to be financially responsible later. → When you make an important purchase, involve them in decision-making so that they understand the importance of researching and making informed choices. By using these lessons in everyday activities, you can make your children much more financially aware, making it easier for them to deal with the bigger issues confidently. Did you receive any money-related lessons as a child from your parents? #financialliteracy #moneymanagement

When we talk about the cost of childcare, there’s often an assumption that mom will leave the workforce if her salary doesn’t cover it. It’s treated like a short-term solution—a temporary pause to save money during the early years. But the reality? It’s anything but short-term. When women leave the workforce, they don’t just lose a paycheck. They lose Social Security contributions, retirement savings, career growth, and long-term earning potential. They risk falling behind in their field, missing out on promotions, and struggling to re-enter the workforce later—often at lower pay or in positions beneath their qualifications. This isn’t just an individual issue. It’s systemic. Women already face the motherhood penalty—earning less and being seen as less committed once they have kids. And when they step away entirely, the financial impact compounds. Research shows women hold fewer retirement assets and are more likely to face poverty in old age than men. So no, leaving the workforce to save on childcare isn’t a short-term fix. It’s a decision with lifelong consequences. That’s why we need to stop framing childcare costs as a personal problem for moms to solve and start treating it like the shared family and societal issue it is. Because when we assume moms will just “pause” their careers, we’re setting women back—and setting families up for long-term financial insecurity. Let’s rethink the way we approach this conversation. Affordable childcare isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s a necessity for gender equity and economic stability. What do you think? Have you experienced or witnessed the long-term effects of taking time out of the workforce for childcare? I’d love to hear your thoughts. #affordablechildcare #workingmom

📊 US consumers increasingly running on fumes 💸 Consumer spending rose a seemingly healthy 0.5% m/m in February, but make no mistake, households are increasingly running on fumes. Adjusted for prices, real spending rose just 0.1%, with the composition of outlays pointing to growing caution. Spending rotated away from tariff-impacted and higher-priced goods, while services outlays remained subdued. 🔍 The details underscore a clear rotation. Inflation-adjusted durable goods spending rose a strong 0.9% m/m following a 1.4% decline in January, but excluding the 4.3% surge in vehicles (after a 4.2% plunge in the prior month), durable goods spending fell 0.4%, with weaker outlays on furniture and recreational goods. Nondurable goods spending declined 0.2% in February, as modest gains in clothing were offset by lower spending on groceries and gas. Real services spending rose just 0.1%. 📉 Personal income fell 0.1% in February, reflecting soft compensation growth, a sharp drop in dividend income and lower government social benefits. Disposable personal income also declined 0.1% m/m, as personal current taxes were unchanged following a 3.1% drop in January tied to larger refunds from the One Big Beautiful Act. Adjusted for inflation, disposable income fell more sharply, down 0.5%. 💳 With spending outpacing income, the personal saving rate dropped 0.5ppt to 4.0% –which, excluding post-pandemic swings, is tied for the lowest level since 2008. 📈 Looking at the broader trend, real consumer spending has firmed to a 2.5% y/y pace, but the income foundation remains fragile. Real disposable income growth has slowed to 1.1% y/y and has trailed spending since July 2024. This highlights that the resilience in spending is being sustained through tighter budgeting and greater selectivity, not stronger income growth. Increasingly, spending is being supported by a drawdown in savings, greater reliance on credit, and wealth effects. These relief valves are inherently limited, particularly heading into an oil shock. With job growth near zero and wage growth easing, one should anticipate soft income for the rest of the year. 🔥 Inflation pressures firmed in February, largely reflecting tariffs. Headline and core PCE prices both rose 0.4% m/m. On a year-over-year basis, headline PCE inflation held at 2.8%, while core inflation eased slightly to 3.0%. Notably, the 3-month and 6-month annualized measures have begun to reaccelerate ahead of the Middle East-driven energy shock. 🔮 Looking ahead, we expect an energy- and food-driven price bump to push headline PCE inflation toward 4%, with core PCE temporarily rising toward 3.5%. We have raised our year-end 2026 forecast to 3.0% y/y for headline PCE and now see core PCE ending the year around 2.8%. via EY-Parthenon EY

𝗜 𝗗𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸. 𝗜 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗜𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗠𝘆 𝗠𝗼𝗺 𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝘆 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗗𝗮𝘆 When I got my first job, I was all set to reward myself — new clothes, weekend café plans, and of course, Swiggy on speed dial. But my mom said one thing that completely changed how I looked at money: “Write down every rupee you spend. You’ll thank yourself later.” And I did. For the last 1.5 years, I’ve tracked every single expense — from major bills to ₹99 impulse buys. Here’s what that simple habit taught me (and why I think every young professional should start early): ✅ 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙙 The first month I tracked my spending, I realized 30% went to things I didn’t even remember buying. Tracking created awareness, and awareness led to control. ✅ 𝘽𝙪𝙙𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 — 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 Once I knew my fixed costs, I started setting non-negotiables (savings) and guilt-free spends (fun). 📌 I didn’t stop eating out — I just planned for it. ✅ 𝙄 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 I set a standing instruction to save 20% of my salary the day it hits my account. What’s left is what I live on. And trust me, when you see your savings grow month-on-month, it feels better than any impulse shopping spree. ✅ 𝙄 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖 “𝙉𝙤 𝙍𝙚𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙩 𝙁𝙪𝙣𝙙” Not an emergency fund. A fund for learning, travel, upskilling — things I won’t regret spending on. Even allocating ₹1,000/month made it real. 📌 It’s not about how much you earn. It’s about how early you learn to respect your money. If you’re just starting out, here’s my simple suggestion: 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 → 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 → 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 → 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 It’s not boring. It’s empowering. LinkedIn LinkedIn News India LinkedIn for Marketing #FinancialPlanning #MoneyHabits #YoungProfessionals #BudgetBetter #PersonalFinanceBasics #CareerTips

About time!... Financial literacy finally becoming a core part of the school curriculum in England is a big moment. For children from state-school backgrounds, or families without professional experience, this isn’t just another subject. It’s opportunity. Because when young people understand: ↳ how money works ↳ how debt and interest really impact them ↳ how saving, investing, and budgeting compound over time …they gain power. Power to avoid the traps that follow people for a lifetime. Power to make informed decisions. Power to become socially mobile in a world where money knowledge is often unevenly distributed. There’s strong evidence that teaching money early leads to better financial decisions later in life, from avoiding payday lending, to building savings habits, to feeling more confident and in control. The earlier that behaviour forms, the more it compounds. As someone who works every day with students trying to break into finance from non-traditional backgrounds, I see the gap firsthand. This will help close it. A great step for the next generation, now the key is making the content practical, real-world, and part of a long-term plan, not a one-off lesson. Financial literacy shouldn’t just help students pass exams. It should help them change their future.

College costs have risen faster than inflation and wage growth. And yet, research shows that the barriers to saving for college are often not just financial. Stanford Initiative for Financial Decision-Making (IFDM) 's Financial Literacy Colloquium today featured Guglielmo Briscese, who presented findings from a landmark analysis of over 900,000 Illinois 529 college savings accounts. The results are striking. Among parents who could save enough to cover half of their child's future college costs, 61% still believed their savings would be meaningless. That is not a resource problem. That is a knowledge and perception problem. Financial literacy emerged as one of the most powerful predictors of whether and how much families save. Parents with higher financial literacy saved more, planned better, and made more effective use of the tools available to them. This is exactly why financial literacy education matters so much, and why it has to start early. The tools exist. The programs exist. What is often missing is the knowledge to use them well. Guglielmo's research is an important contribution to a field that is growing, and a reminder that addressing the college affordability crisis requires more than expanding access to savings vehicles. It requires closing the knowledge gap that prevents families from using them. Read his research:  https://lnkd.in/dxrggdrE

𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝗕𝗶𝗴 4 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲. It did. But not in the way I expected. I imagined fancy offices, exciting projects, and quick promotions. What I didn’t expect were: - 14-hour workdays - 3 a.m. emails - Learning to say “on it” even when I had no idea where to start - And realizing that resilience, networking, and curiosity matter just as much as technical skills. Back in 2019, I started my first job in Hyderabad. Fresh out of college, I thought my first salary would make me feel rich. Spoiler: it didn’t. What it did teach me was far more valuable: ✅How to stretch my salary till the month-end ✅That rent, groceries, and taxes hit harder than expected ✅That managing money in a new city feels like a full-time job in itself ✅And most importantly, the art of saying no to impulse purchases and unnecessary expenses A year later, I moved to Gurgaon. New city. New challenges. Bigger expenses. That’s when I realized something powerful: “𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞.” If you’ve just started earning, here’s a simple beginner-friendly framework to manage your first salary: 1. Budget Smartly (50-30-20 Rule) • 50% → Needs (rent, bills, groceries) • 30% → Wants (travel, food, lifestyle) • 20% → Investments & savings 2. Build an Emergency Fund Aim for 6 months of expenses in a liquid fund or high-interest savings account. 3. Start Investing Early (Even ₹10,000 Is Enough) • ₹5,000 → Index Funds (Nifty 50 / Nifty Next 50) • ₹2,000 → NPS for retirement & tax benefits • ₹1,500 → Sovereign Gold Bonds / Gold ETFs • ₹1,500 → Liquid funds for short-term goals 4. Get Insurance Start with health insurance (₹5–10L coverage) and a term plan if you have dependents. 5. Upskill Relentlessly Invest ₹2,000–₹5,000/month into certifications, courses, and skills. (Don’t skip) Your first job doesn’t just teach you how to earn. It teaches you how to manage, invest, and grow what you earn. Now tell me - What was your first salary when you started your career? And if you’re just starting now, I hope the comments section helps you plan better. LinkedIn LinkedIn News India LinkedIn Life #career #growth #salary #job

Spending Falls, Inflation Rises: "Smells Like Stagflation Spirit" May’s spending, income and inflation data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis offered the clearest signs yet of tariffs weighing on the U.S. economy. Consumer spending declined noticeably, following months of front-loaded purchases ahead of expected tariff hikes. Even as demand cooled, inflation continued to edge higher—an early signal of stagflation, the combination of slowing growth and rising prices typically triggered by a supply shock. While inflation has remained within a tolerable range over the past three months, we don’t believe the full effects of tariffs have yet played out. Many businesses have so far absorbed higher input costs by leaning on inventories rather than passing them along to consumers. That buffer may soon erode. We expect increased price volatility over the next three to six months as firms begin restocking at higher, tariff-inflated prices. The Federal Reserve has signaled the possibility of one or two rate cuts this year. But more data will be needed to determine whether inflation pressures are truly under control—or just delayed.

Retail sales look steady. But is that the whole picture? Core retail spending grew 3.2% in 2025 – broadly in line with the long-term average. But under the calm surface, less visible currents are at play – and these are what produce today’s choppier trading environment. One is that retail sales growth includes inflation, which flatters the numbers. Strip that out and last year’s core retail growth reduces to just 0.4% in volume terms. Another factor is the source of growth. Last year, only higher-income consumers contributed to volume growth. Lower-income and middle-income consumers bought less. The downswings were not dramatic, but they compound reductions from prior years. These trends help explain many retail dynamics – polarization, the squeeze of the middle, the zero-sum growth game, extensive discounting, margin squeeze, and so on. Retail is not in a terrible state, and it certainly hasn’t collapsed. But the organic growth available is thinner than ever. That makes retail competitive and it brutally separates winners from losers. #retail #retailnews #economy #consumers #spending

🌱 Are we walking the talk on corporate climate action? A new study by Colesanti Senni et al. (Environmental Research Communications, 2024) examines how corporations disclose their climate transition plans. Using a Large Language Model-based tool, the research assessed the disclosures of Climate Action 100+ companies—the largest global emitters. The findings reveal critical gaps and opportunities in how companies communicate their climate commitments. 📊 What the study found: ✔️ Most companies are adept at outlining ambitious targets (the “talk”), such as net-zero goals and interim milestones. However, they often fall short on the actionable steps needed to achieve them (the “walk”). ✔️ The companies that disclose more tend to show lower emissions, suggesting that transparency might signal a stronger alignment between planning and progress. ⚠️ A lack of standardization in reporting frameworks remains a major barrier. Without clear, consistent benchmarks, stakeholders are left questioning whether disclosures reflect genuine efforts or greenwashing. 🧩 My reflections: When I think about corporate climate responsibility, I see three interconnected layers: intentions, actions, and outcomes. Each is critical, but the gaps between them are where trust and progress falter. ✨ Intentions: Bold commitments are often a sign of leadership, but when they remain vague or unsupported by detail, they risk being seen as little more than a marketing exercise. 🔨 Actions: This is the most critical layer—and often the weakest link. Without concrete, measurable steps, even the best intentions lack credibility. Actions should demonstrate not just a plan but a willingness to take tough, sometimes unpopular, decisions. 📊 Outcomes: While outcomes are the ultimate goal, they’re also where the evidence lies. The study’s findings suggest that detailed disclosures might correlate with lower emissions, but is this because these companies are more transparent—or simply more prepared? This cycle of intentions, actions, and outcomes is not just a corporate issue—it’s a systemic one. How can we better connect these layers to create a climate response that is both transparent and transformative? 🌍 What are your thoughts? 💡 How can companies ensure their actions truly bridge the gap between intentions and outcomes? 💡 Are current disclosure frameworks helping stakeholders distinguish between real progress and polished promises—or are they creating more confusion? You can read the full study here: https://lnkd.in/exEDwzaK #ClimateAction #Sustainability #Greenwashing #CorporateResponsibility #NetZero