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PILLAR
Financial Literacy
How money works, and what to do with it.
Financial literacy is the working vocabulary of grown-up life. Most people learn it the hard way, by signing things they did not understand.
It has a second half too: what money is for. Philanthropy, social impact, the choice to build a circular economy or a wasteful one. Most children grow up without learning either half. Umbra works with families and with schools to change that.
WHAT RESEARCH SHOWS
They Spend More. They Understand Less.
Access to financial services has never been greater. Yet across 20 countries, Canada to Chile, Europe to Southeast Asia, the next generation's financial literacy is stagnating or declining.
OECD · 20 COUNTRIES · 15 YEAR OLDS
2 in 3
of students regularly use financial products and services but cannot avoid financial risks when doing so.
OECD, "Action needed to address gaps in financial literacy among students", 2024.
TOP PERFORMERS · PISA 2022
8%
of fifteen year olds can solve complex financial problems, across 20 countries.
OECD PISA 2022.
54%
of Gen Z used Buy Now Pay Later during the holiday season, surpassing credit card use for the first time.
J.D. Power Consumer Finance Survey, 2025.
60%
of fifteen year olds bought something because their friends had it, globally, across all 20 PISA countries.
OECD PISA 2022.
72%
of teenagers say they bought a product based on an influencer's recommendation.
Business Insider · Nielsen, 2022.
The problem is behavioral, not informational. Teenagers across Canada, Chile, Italy, Malaysia, and Brazil all have access to financial products, but lack the priorities, discipline, and long-term view to use them responsibly. The family is the only consistent protective factor identified across every country in the study.
SOURCES: OECD PISA 2022, VOLUME IV. OECD/INFE 2023. OECD, 2024. J.D. POWER, 2025. BUSINESS INSIDER / NIELSEN, 2022. FRONTIERS IN EDUCATION, 2022.
WHY IT MATTERS
Financial education should feel clarifying, not intimidating. We make it easier to begin.
There are four places financial literacy could be learned: the home, the school, higher education, and adult life. Most miss it. Umbra works with the first two.
AT HOME
AGES 0 TO 18
Young people pick up money habits by watching. They almost never see a real financial decision being made, or hear money discussed as anything other than a private matter.
Children whose families talk about money openly score higher in financial literacy. In most countries, those families are the minority.
SOURCE: OECD PISA FINANCIAL LITERACY, 2022
SCHOOL
AGES 6 TO 18
When personal finance shows up in school, it tends to be a short module on budgeting. Nothing connects money to civic life or to what money might be used for beyond the self.
In the OECD's most recent PISA test, only 1 in 10 fifteen year olds reached the top proficiency level in financial literacy. One in five fell below baseline.
SOURCE: OECD PISA FINANCIAL LITERACY, 2022
HIGHER EDUCATION
AGES 18 TO 22+
Universities teach money as markets. The civic side and the philanthropic side rarely make it into the core curriculum.
In most accredited business programs, sustainability and ethics are still optional courses, not part of the core.
SOURCE: PRME, UN PRINCIPLES FOR RESPONSIBLE MANAGEMENT EDUCATION
ADULT LIFE
AGES 22+
Most adults learn what a contract means by signing one. The lesson tends to arrive after the cost.
Only 33 percent of adults worldwide meet basic financial literacy criteria.
SOURCE: STANDARD AND POOR'S GLOBAL FINLIT SURVEY
OUR APPROACH
Money skills that grow with your child, learned at home and at school.
A real financial education has two parts. How money works in practice, and what money is for. We bring both into the home with families, and into the classroom with schools.
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Practical money skills, taught alongside their civic dimension
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Family programs that make money a normal household conversation
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School partnerships with real classroom time, not a single workshop
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Materials that grow with the child, simple at six and detailed at sixteen
HOW THIS SHOWS UP IN REAL LIFE
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Money at the table
Real conversations at home about how the family spends, saves, and gives. The skill grows in the room where it is used.
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Money in school
Financial literacy taught with time and depth, alongside the civic side of money. Not the one-off workshop everyone forgets.
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First decisions
A teenager reads a real contract, compares offers, asks better questions. Decisions made with practice, not pressure.
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First act of impact
A young person plans a small philanthropic or circular project of their own. They learn what matters by doing it.
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