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Desire, Need or Will?

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Default and indebtedness can be understood as the main “symptoms” of a poor financial health. That is what happens in Brazil, where, by the 1st half of 2018, more than half of the families (58.9%) had at least a debt to be paid and most of these debts were on credit cards (76.3%), according to the Survey on Consumer Default and Indebtedness.

Imagem: Instituto Criança é Vida

If it were possible to conduct a detailed examination, such as a complete blood cell count, capable of detecting the main financial health problems Brazilians are facing, the results would be at least worrisome.

A survey conducted by the National Confederation of Shopkeepers (CNDL) and by the Credit Protection Services (SPC Brasil) did this mapping. It shows that six out of ten indebted Brazilians (61%) know little about their own income. In addition, 45% admit to knowing little or almost nothing about the value of their basic expenses to be paid at the end of the month.

A pedagogue and expert in Social Project Management with a MBA in Sustainability Management and consultant on Financial Education, Aline Ditta suggests that the major cause of population’s indebtedness is the easy access to credit and to consume, coupled with a lack of support, guidance and financial awareness. “If, on one hand, [the consumption] improved a lot because of people’s access to credit and bank products, they have no financial education, and this can lead to serious problems,” she explains.

The demand for this project came to us initially through the father of a child who had been assisted by the Bororé Social Promotion Center. He told us that the lack of money and of knowledge on how to use it properly directly impacts a person’s health. Thus, working with financial education has everything to do with health education. Already in 2016, concerned with the problems faced by the families of children assisted by partner institutions of the Instituto Criança é Vida (Child is Life Institute), educators also made a demand for a Financial Health project. In that same year, the 7-to-9-year-old children cycle began to be written by the Institute’s consultant and also master teacher Aline Ditta. In 2017, it was implemented in São Paulo as a pilot project and, after some adjustments, began to be used on a large scale in 2018. Today, the project takes place in 92 institutions located in the cities of Campinas, Mogi das Cruzes, Rio de Janeiro and on the South Side of São Paulo, reaching about 4,700 children.

Imagem: Instituto Criança é Vida

Aimed at two age groups (7 to 9 and 10 to 12 years of age), the project works on initial concepts and basic notions of how to live with money in a way to practice conscientious and sustainable consumption and make the best use of the available financial resources. 

The project creates opportunities for reflection on the use of money and on the importance of saving and planning in a fun and attractive way. By gaining new knowledge on financial matters, children can influence the decisions of their families and become agents of change of their own reality.

For the expert and author of the Financial Health project, every project of the Instituto Criança é Vida (Child is Life Institute) ends up impacting thefamily, because children assimilate experiences with such intensity that they take them home. “Perhaps children do not change their parents’ behavior in a short time, but they will make them think and reflect. What is already a good way,” she says.

Imagem: Instituto Criança é Vida

Practicing Education

The project’s first results are already visible. Educators have changed the way they deal with money, canceling their credit cards, opening savings accounts and making investments. Children are helping their families think about what to do with their money, even “giving advice” to more indebted family members. “Educators are surprising themselves and realizing that they need develop money consciousness in their own lives,” Aline Ditta says.

“Money has to help you. It can’t make you lose sleep”
Aline Ditta

See on video how educators and children are learning important
concepts on financial health (only in Portuguese).

Encouraging the change of habits with respect to financial health has been perhaps the greatest challenge and the greatest merit of the project. According to the survey conducted by the National Confederation of Shopkeepers (CNDL) and by the Credit Protection Services (SPC Brasil), among those who indebted themselves due to lack of financial control or impulsive shopping, 58% did not try to change their attitude in order to revert the situation. Regarding the steps taken to keep personal finances in order, 81% did nothing.

Another trend pointed out by the survey is the connection between lack of control over expenses and emotional aspects. People go shopping to feel better (36%) or more attractive (27%), even if they don’t pay their bills (37%). The survey also found out that the factor that most contributed to an imbalance in finances (21% of cases) was anxiety, according to those interviewed.

Released in August of this year, the survey heard 609 consumers with 90 days overdue bills in all the country’s capitals, from both genders, above 18 years old and from all social classes. The survey confidence level is of 95%.

Psychologist and psychoanalyst Elba Almeida explains that compulsive shopping, in addition to being an individual problem, is also a social symptom that reflects the consumer society in which we live. “The message that society sends is that the human being is valued for his/her purchasing power. And the media always show this, including on children’s channels,” she emphasizes.

Imagem: Instituto Criança é Vida

To identify whether consumption is becoming a disease, the psychologist says that some aspects must be analyzed. According to her, at the moment of the purchase, be it by necessity, the fulfillment of a dream or the satisfaction of a desire, there is real pleasure. When it comes to compulsion, the purchase has no specific purpose and results from an impulse, followed by feelings of displeasure and guilt. “At the moment of the purchase, he/she feels fulfilled by something, but a feeling of emptiness soon takes place, causing great emotional and psychic pain,” she says. When someone realizes that he/she is losing control over purchases and this is causing a great pain, he/she should look for help. “Compulsion, in general, is associated with depression and anxiety conditions and, for the most part, a psychiatric and psychotherapeutic treatment should be prescribed,” Elba, who is also a master teacher at the Instituto Criança é Vida (Child is Life Institute), completes.

Consultant Aline Ditta agrees that there is nothing wrong with the fulfillment of your dreams or the satisfaction of your desires, but believes that this should be done in a deliberate way. “I can dream of consumer goods, even if they are superfluous, but I must be sure that I am not jeopardizing what I really need. It is at this point that people often have trouble,” she says.

To those interested in promoting changes in their own lives, the expert gives a hint: The video “6 tricks to save more money” (only in Portuguese). Enjoy it!