What is Financial Experience

Financial literacy is a combination of financial knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, key for making informed decisions and for solving financial problems. This descriptive study explored the applied, conceptual and procedural financial knowledge of 243 Mexican students via three financial knowledge tests. In addition, these students were surveyed about their financial behavior, their attitudes towards money, and their experience with money using a self-report questionnaire. The study aims to identify financial-education needs and gaps between school levels and systems. Therefore, the analysis focuses on the differences and similarities between two subgroups: (1) students in public and in private education, and between (2) middle school (ages 12 to 15) and high school students (ages 15 to 18). Middle school and high school students differed significantly only in their conceptual knowledge and in their financial experience, while public and private students showed statistical significant differences on their financial knowledge, behavior, attitudes and experience.