Financial education in school is one of the most powerful tools we have to prepare the next generation for real life. Yet in many countries — including high-income ones like Norway — young people consistently underperform on financial literacy assessments, even as their parents rank among the most financially knowledgeable adults in the world. This article explores why that gap exists, what Global Money Week is doing to close it, and what happened when I stepped into an Oslo classroom to teach 11-year-olds about money.
Norway: Strong Adult Financial Knowledge — and Rising Household Debt
Understanding money is a critical life skill — in business and at home. I often say we are all, in our own way, the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of our lives.
Financial education is widely recognised as an essential service that governments and donors should promote, particularly in countries with limited welfare systems and less robust financial infrastructure.
Yet the data show that financial literacy training is equally needed in highly developed countries.
Norway — the country I have called home for the past year — offers a compelling case study: digital payments, easy access to credit, and some of the highest household debt levels in the world shape everyday financial decisions.
A few years ago, I wrote a detailed article based on the 2015 S&P Global Financial Literacy Survey, which covered 140 countries. Norway ranked among the very top globally, with 71% of adults correctly answering questions on interest, compounding, inflation, and risk diversification — well above the OECD and European averages, and on par with Sweden and Denmark.
The survey also revealed some sobering global figures:
- Only 1 in 3 adults worldwide understands basic financial concepts
- Billions struggle with interest, compounding, inflation, and risk
- Even in wealthy countries, financial literacy is uneven
- High access to financial services does not guarantee good financial decisions
Financially literate adults are less likely to default on loans, more likely to save for retirement, better at managing debt, and more resilient during economic shocks. Financial literacy, in short, is not a luxury — it is a form of empowerment.
One of the most interesting findings, both in the S&P survey and in national data, is that wealthy countries often combine strong financial knowledge with high private debt and rising financial stress.
Norway leads this paradox. It ranks among the highest in the world for household debt-to-income ratio — currently over 200%.
Why? The Norwegian tax and credit system actively incentivises homeownership.
Primary residences receive a 75% valuation discount for wealth tax purposes (only 25% of the market value is counted, up to NOK 10 million). Financial investments, by contrast, receive a much smaller discount. Banks also allow mortgage loans up to five times gross annual income.
The result: buying property feels — and often is — the rational choice, channelling most household savings into real estate.
On the surface, property investment has been safe and consistently appreciating. In practice, large mortgages have become a significant source of financial stress, narrowing disposable income and reducing flexibility.
As Steinar Thoresen of Bluestep Bank noted in 2021, if we can prevent psychological problems caused by financial challenges through debt counselling and better financial education in schools, that should be an easy choice for policymakers to make.
These challenges emerge among adults who already score high on financial literacy. But when we shift attention to younger generations, the picture looks different.
Norway: Relatively Low Financial Knowledge Among Students
According to the 2022 PISA Financial Literacy assessment, Norwegian students perform respectably — but not at the level of their adult peers, nor at the level of global frontrunners. They scored slightly below the OECD average.
Many struggled with core tasks: budgeting, evaluating financial information, and navigating today’s digital payment systems.
This mismatch — strong adult financial competence versus modest youth performance — shows that financial literacy does not automatically pass from one generation to the next. It must be taught intentionally.
With this in mind, I began to reflect on how I could contribute, even in a small way, to promoting meaningful financial education among students. The perfect opportunity came through the Global Money Week campaign.
Global Money Week: A Global Call to Financial Awareness
Every March, over 100 countries celebrate Global Money Week (GMW), an OECD initiative designed to help children and young people learn how money works, why it matters, and how to use it wisely. Its 2025 theme was timeless: “Learn. Save. Earn.”
During GMW 2025, in coordination with a dynamic IB school in Oslo and a motivated teacher, I found myself standing in front of a class of 11-year-olds. They were attentive, curious, and surprisingly honest. When I asked them what they knew about money, one student said:
“We use it every day, but no one ever explained how it actually works.”
That single sentence captures the essence of today’s financial literacy gap — not just in Norway, but worldwide.
The full lesson — covering the history of money, digital money in Norway, PISA results, and why financial literacy matters — is available as a YouTube video and a downloadable PDF for teachers, students, and parents.
What We Covered in the Classroom
The session was structured around four key building blocks:
- Why Money Exists
Money has evolved over thousands of years — from barter systems to commodity money (gold, silver, salt), to representative money, and finally to today’s fiat money, which holds value because society trusts the institutions that issue it.
- The Three Functions of Money
Money is a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and a store of value. These three functions explain why money was invented and why it continues to evolve as societies modernise.
- What Money Looks Like Today — Especially in Norway
Norway is one of the most digitalised financial ecosystems on the planet. Only around 3% of daily transactions use physical cash. Students grow up with Vipps and bank cards, yet many have never held certain banknotes. This creates a paradox: young people use money constantly, but understand it only superficially.
- Why Financial Education Must Begin Early
If money becomes invisible, frictionless, and easy to spend, financial literacy becomes more essential — not less. The earlier young people understand the mechanics and psychology of money, the better equipped they are to make decisions that serve them throughout life.
A Lifelong Skill, Not a One-Week Celebration
Global Money Week is a symbolic moment, but what matters most is what happens the rest of the year. As I left the school after the session, several students stayed behind to ask more questions — about investments, digital money, and how banks actually work. One asked:
“Why don’t we learn this earlier?”
That question is the real reason Global Money Week exists.
Schools are gradually integrating financial education into their curricula, and the Oslo module is just one step in a larger journey. Beyond the classroom, one of the most effective things families can do is open up conversations about money at home — removing taboos, asking questions, and making finance part of everyday life. In a previous post, I wrote about the investment and money lessons that can emerge from meaningful parent-child conversations: Teach Your Children How to Invest.
My goal on Sweat Your Assets is simple: to support individuals, schools, families, and young people in building financial confidence and independence.
Money shapes our lives, our opportunities, our confidence, and our future.
When we understand it, we gain agency.
When we teach it, we empower the next generation.
If you like this article, check out other Financial Education in School, Mindset, Personal Finance and Investment Wisdom in my Archive, YouTube videos, and Audio Podcasts.