Financial literacy - the urgent need today

Many of us understand the inability to read or write under the term of financial literacy. I this a number of areas which summarily called functional literacy, for example cultural literacy, emotional, media, financial, health literacy and so on. A key element in the decision making in all areas of our lives is financial literacy. Ability to understand financial products which normally people come into a contact is a reflection of financial literacy everyone. Global problem is inadequate level of financial literacy, therefore it is appropriate to research this issue in depth. The paper deals with defining literacy in a general way in the first part, further with financial literacy, selected surveys in this area as well as defining the indicators of financial education. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.