The aim of Financial Literacy and Inclusion Association (FODER), which was found in 2012 as the very first financial literacy association of Turkey, is to implement activities on financial literacy, on access to financial services and on financial training in Turkey, while providing the necessary support to the persons and organizations working in that regard.

In line with the results of the surveys conducted in Turkey on Financial Literacy, it is identified that the citizens generally:

• are not aware of how making savings and saving money is significant;
• are not aware of the fact that meaningful accumulations can be possible by small savings;
• are refraining from making savings although they feel unsafe about their future and their retirement period in particular
• disregard the recommendations for financing their own future whilst at the same time also for accumulating savings to cover their own retirement period (the young persons, in particular, intrinsically, are not holding precautionary savings and planning for retirement).

Considering the fact that the positive aspect of Turkey’s socio-demographic landscape today may be challenged by the negative developments that are expected to occur in the coming years, the citizens should better prepare themselves financially for their retirement periods that will last for many years, since the society will age into the older population where the life expectancy is increased. The current saving habits of the citizens, where short-term goals are set in high inflation periods, should be modified and feasible investment plans by setting attainable mid and long-term goals should be adopted, and accordingly, the concept of "Investing for the Future" should be internalized and deployed by the citizens.

For mainstreaming the financial literacy in Turkey and for contributing to higher participation by the citizens in the financial system, we conduct studies for;

• raising awareness of persons on financial needs;
• providing the persons with training on how to prepare budget and save money;
• encouraging persons to make savings while helping them to transform their savings into accumulations;
• contributing persons in utilizing their savings better by the right investment tools while participating into the financial system, and contributing to reduce wealth inequalities while increasing the financial viability and well-beings.

Together with our project partners, we design and implement training programs for various segments of society (students, women, farmers, staff of Armed Forces, retired persons, etc.) in order for achieving the above mentioned goals. In these programs, we aim to provide persons with the ability to do financial calculations as well as to introduce them to the concepts such as debt management plans, use of credit card/personal loan, income-expense management, budget preparation, asset allocation, investment risks, private pension plans, insurance, etc.; while we aim to eliminate the former prejudices while altering the former habits.

By taking into account the fact that the financial literacy training will be more effective when provided at an early age, we work for ensuring financial literacy education to be included in the primary and secondary school curricula.

The citizens, who are more financially literate, can be more motivated and more confident about the future owing to the savings and investments they made and accordingly, they contribute to sustainable economy.

Attila Köksal, CFA

“Ones, who can manage their money, can manage their lives”