Carlo Sala is an Assistant Professor at Esade's Department of Economics, Finance, and Accounting.

Like mathematics, literature, and the basic skills that people learn as children, financial literacy should be an ordinary course taught in every school to every student. A person who acquires an understanding of finance early in life has more time to benefit from compound interest rates, can take more risks, and build a better credit rating. Moreover, the positive spillover effects benefit the whole community. A growing body of evidence shows that people with financial knowledge are less prone to bankruptcy, invest more, and take better risk-weighted decisions under uncertainty – and this paves the way for a less worrisome and stressful life. Financial literacy can improve the overall well-being of society.