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Cindy Sui

How do you get youngsters interested in lessons about saving, budgeting and investing?
Definitely not with lectures, said the founders of Talents Foundation, a Hong Kong charity that aims to teach young people how to manage their finances and achieve their career and life goals in a fun way.
Founders Arthur Hui Ka-yu and David Wong have developed a curriculum, including a Monopoly-like board game, that teaches primary and secondary school students how to seize opportunities, such as job promotions and stock investments, and deal with real-life challenges, including lay-offs and stock market crashes.
“They learn more this way. They remember the lessons better,” said Wong, the charity’s operations director.
He and Hui founded the charity in 2022 after noticing a lack of financial literacy training in many schools.
“They might teach macroeconomic concepts such as inflation or commerce, but not on a personal level,” said Hui, the programme director, adding that many parents also did not talk about finances with their children.
With a board of directors composed mainly of retired or serving principals, Talents Foundation has worked with teachers to deliver its course to about 12,000 students in 140 local schools since its inception.
It is one of 13 charities selected to receive funding from this year’s Operation Santa Claus (OSC) campaign. The funding will enable the foundation to provide an expanded version of its curriculum next year to 1,050 Primary Four to Form Six students from low-income families.

The project aims to empower young people to avoid the vicious cycle of debt and intergenerational poverty through four sessions on financial literacy.
In the first session, students in groups are asked to create a budget for their “family”, initially without limits. Later, they are given a budget of around HK$30,000 (US$3,850) – Hong Kong’s median monthly household income – and must try to meet everyone’s needs within it.
“They realise it’s not enough, so they have to add and subtract,” Hui said.
The exercise gets them to consider expenses they normally may not think about, such as electricity bills and how often they need to be paid.
“If we don’t know these things as children, when do we learn them?” Hui said.

In the second session, students play the foundation’s board game, Finwise, which simulates adult life and teaches them to deal with unexpected challenges, such as unemployment, workplace injury or even a stock market crash.
“For the stock market crash, for example, they learn not to put all their eggs into one basket,” Hui said. “We even throw in Covid.”
Like Monopoly, there are winners, but the difference is everyone can win if they reach the goals they set for themselves.
“It’s real life. Winning or losing doesn’t matter. It’s about your life decisions,” said Lam Ting-yu, a teacher at Chong Gene Hang College, a long-time partner secondary school of the charity.
In the third session, students draw up a savings plan for themselves and begin setting aside money towards something they want to buy.
In the fourth session, held after some time has passed, the charity assesses the course’s impact on students’ behaviour and whether they acted on their savings plan.
The school’s principal, Wong Sai-yiu, said the course encouraged children to think about how to be smart and responsible with money.
“With the experiential learning…, students can truly understand the need and use of money in a more tangible sense, especially after learning both its power and the onus that comes with it,” he said.
OSC, jointly established by the Post and public broadcaster RTHK in 1988, has raised around HK$396 million for over 365 charity projects and helped more than 100,000 people throughout the years.
In addition to its annual fundraising drive, it is leading an emergency appeal to meet the specific needs of residents affected by the deadly Tai Po inferno in November.
All proceeds will support this year’s 13 OSC-funded charity projects and community partners involved in the fire relief efforts in Tai Po.
Click here to learn more about how to donate to OSC.


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Hong Kong charity Talents Foundation, an Operation Santa Claus beneficiary, aims to teach young people how to manage their finances


Hong Kong charity Talents Foundation, an Operation Santa Claus beneficiary, aims to teach young people how to manage their finances.


Smart money: how Hong Kong charity makes finance lessons fun for pupils

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Hong Kong charity Talents Foundation, an Operation Santa Claus beneficiary, aims to teach young people how to manage their finances

Hong Kong charity Talents Foundation, an Operation Santa Claus beneficiary, aims to teach young people how to manage their finances