Stop feeling bad about money, Cyprus!

Your neighbours may be driving the latest Porsche (the island has moved up from Mercedes) but it’s all just show! They’re probably not nearly as well off as they look…

Cyprus likes to flash the cash, right? Gone are the days when yiayia grew her own veggies but sat upon 500 prime donums. Her kids have long since sold the land, had the flash wedding at the St Raphael, and bought the mansion in Latsia. That fortune is long gone.

And now? Well, a recent study suggests anyone over the age of 55 is exceedingly lucky to have €30,000 in savings!

The younger generations have it much worse. Yiayia’s grandchildren (likely now aged between 35 and 54) have roughly €10,000 in the bank at any given moment. Probably substantially less given that these are our Generation X and Millennials who are grappling with higher housing costs, less secure work, and years of economic shocks – everything from the 2013 haircut to the 2020 pandemic to the constant cost-of-living crunch.

In fact, nearly 1 in 5 of this age group have zero savings whatsoever.

Meanwhile, the great-grandkids (34 and younger) might have €7000 to their name on A Very Good Day – but only if they’ve been saving every cent from name days, birthdays, and Christmas!

Granted, these numbers come from a UK study (nobody’s dared do anything serious on Cyprus yet). But the figures hold true across most of the western world.

Which means almost nobody is as well off as you think they are.

Enter financial literacy.

It’s a scary-sounding term for something that, to be quite honest, we all should have learnt at pappou’s knees. Or at least in school.

Basically what it means is having the knowledge and confidence to manage money in everyday life: budgeting, saving, understanding debt, interest, and financial risk.

And fortunately, the Cyprus government has recently introduced a national strategy for the promotion of financial literacy and education, recognising that money skills are a core life skill and essential for economic and social wellbeing.

As part of this wider push to improve financial literacy across the island, the Cyprus Mail has partnered with the Department of Accounting and Finance at the University of Cyprus – a collaboration that’s part of the Department’s wider commitment to public engagement.

Translating academic expertise into practical knowledge to benefit our island as a whole, the initiative builds on a financial literacy campaign first launched in 2020 under a dedicated hashtag (#χρηματοοικονομική_παιδεία).

Working under the sponsorship of XM, the Cyprus Mail will publish these weekly columns every Tuesday – a window into what the next generation really thinks about money, financial pressure, and the reality of making ends meet in today’s Cyprus.

It makes for fascinating reading: all the money worries of today’s youth – and a fair bit of really sound advice– in one place: from why you shouldn’t listen to social media influencers, to why your card is likely to be declined.

There are columns about why you should always stash some cash, articles about where Cyprus is getting retirement wrong, and a piece about the 50/30/20 rule that’s invaluable reading for any age. There’s even an exposé on risk that looks at what happened to Souni after this summer’s wildfire!

All written by students from the University of Cyprus’ Department of Accounting and Finance – young people who are not only studying the theory of money, but grappling with its real-world consequences in their own lives.

For the University, this type of real-world engagement is not academic window-dressing, but a measurable contribution to financial awareness and social impact. Because who better to help us than those (today’s youth have just a fraction of the savings held by past generations at similar stages of life) who have it hardest but are actually learning the wisdom of money management?

It makes for crucial reading. Not only if you want to tap into what the youth of Cyprus feel about their finances (granted, there are a few rather unusual ideas in places). But also if you, yourself are struggling.

Because, sadly, most of us never learnt how to handle our money. It’s not our fault. Nobody taught us. Until now…

If you’ve ever wondered where your money’s gone, follow #χρηματοοικονομική_παιδεία and check our financial literacy columns online every Tuesday