Hong Kong students learn some valuable lessons about money

Learning how to manage and save money are key life skills, and these basics of financial awareness can be taught to children as young as kindergarten age.

A generation ago, money talk was seen as a subject too crude to raise with children, and many parents were as reluctant to discuss it as they would sex. The past decade, however, has seen a steady increase in workshops and classes dedicated to nurturing financial awareness.

"The earlier in life a person receives financial education, the more effective it is, as a large part of financial education is about taking time to instil the right mindset, so that they will become financially responsible citizens when they grow up," says Mary Huen, Standard Chartered's regional head for retail clients, Greater China.

The bank is the executive sponsor of a financial education programme now running for secondary school students called "Shape Your Future".

By the end of the year, 3,500 students aged 15 to 17 from 40 schools will have gone through the two- to three-hour workshop which teaches teenagers how to approach personal finance, long before they are eligible for a credit card.

"When young people leave school and enter university or society, they will be faced with myriad financial management tools - credit cards, borrowing facilities, mortgages, saving for retirement - just to name a few," says Huen.