Transcript Helping people make better financial decisions: The role of online

Helping people make better financial decisions:
The role of online personal finance learning
Professor Sharon Collard
The True Potential Centre for the
Public Understanding of Finance
SUI Credit Union workshop:
Delivering on Membership Value
University of Strathclyde, 26 June 2015
@PUFin_Sharon #PUFin @OUBSchool
My agenda
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Personal Finance Modules
Managing My Money
Managing My Investments
Q&A
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Personal finance modules
• Three online modules for adults, free of
charge
– Managing My Money (2014)
– Managing My Investments (2015)
– Consumer rights and responsibilities (2016)
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Personal finance modules
• Available on two platforms:
– FutureLearn: Massive Open Online Course,
facilitated by OU educators
– The Open University’s OpenLearn: permanent
resource, not facilitated
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• Personal Finance Modules
• Managing My Money (MMM)
• Managing My Investments
• Q&A
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Purpose of MMM
• Improve personal finance knowledge and understanding
– Financial planning, household balance sheet, spending and
borrowing, mortgages, pensions and savings, insurance
• Understand social and behavioural drivers of financial
decisions (e.g. ‘bad financial habits’)
• Establish systematic ways to manage individual financial
decisions and aggregate household finances
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Key Features of MMM
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Covers spectrum of personal finance subjects
24 hours of study over 8 weeks
Divided into digestible ‘steps’
Targeted at people aged 16+
Text, AV assets, quizzes, discussions, selfassessment tests
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Managing My Money: FutureLearn
MMM in numbers
1st FL
presentation
2nd FL
presentation
Total
Registered
15,390
19,465
34,855
Active Learners
10,000
11,071
21,071
Comments posted
24,794
29,792
54,586
Steps visited
493,144
435,613
928,757
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Getting people interested
• PR campaign in run-up to MMM1, May 2014
– Featured on 166 radio stations, 26 press/online
pieces, 23 broadcast interviews
• How found out about the course?
– FutureLearn website (43%), 21% read about it online,
15% read about it in print media
• Personal interest (98%), free course (49%)
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Who signed up?
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More women (64%) than men (35%)
Aged 46+ (53%), only 9% under 25
Lived in UK (78%)
Educated to degree level or above (61%)
In work (67%) or retired (16%)
Familiar with online learning (55%)
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Learners’ views about MMM
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Overall experience excellent (53%) or good (39%)
Time required ‘about right’ (89%)
Course structure very (80%) or fairly (18%) clear
Activities interesting (73%), helpful (72%),
thought-provoking (49%), challenging (28%)
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Pensions are the ‘big worry’
• How does the new pension regime work?
• How do I take advantage of new pension freedoms?
• How do I transfer to another pension scheme and
what are the costs?
• How do I evaluate different pension products?
• How do I check that my pension plans are on track
for the outcome I want?
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Impact of MMM?
• Know a lot (47%) or a little (47%) more about
the subject now
• Activities ‘changed my view’ (17%)
• Qualitative feedback from comments posted
on the steps
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Made changes that will save me money
De-mystifying financial matters
Signed up for online banking
Take steps towards managing a vastly
reduced income
Created financial spreadsheet and budget
Take-aways
• Strong uptake and lots of interaction
– Some people do want to talk about personal
finance
• Can we engage younger people, people on
lower incomes, and those less well educated?
• What more can we do to measure impact?
– ‘Design-in’ to courses, follow-up surveys
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About True Potential PUFin
Personal Finance Modules
Managing My Money
Managing My Investments
Q&A
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Managing My Investments
• On FutureLearn from 11 May 2015
• Six week course covers:
– Different investment choices, returns and risks,
historical performance
– Investment strategies and the practicalities of
investing
– Behavioural traits and their impact on effective
investment decision making
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• Personal Finance Modules
• Managing My Money
• Managing My Investments
• Q&A
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Find out more
Managing My Money
www.open.edu/openlearn/openlearn/ocw/money-management/managing-my-money/content-section-overview
www.futurelearn.com/courses/managing-my-money/
Managing My Money Q&A Socials – videos from Managing My Money 2nd FL presentation
www.open.edu/openlearn/moneyquestions
www.open.edu/openlearn/money-management/managing-my-money-the-experts-answer-your-questions
Managing My Investments
www.futurelearn.com/courses/managing-my-investments
True Potential PUFin
www.open.ac.uk/pufin
OU personal finance
www.open.edu/openlearn/money-management/money/personal-finance
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Sign up for updates
http://www3.open.ac.uk/forms/FBLPUFinCentre/
Follow us on Twitter
@PUFin_Sharon @WillBrambley
#PUFin @OUBSchool
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