At the start of the new school year in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland, the Vienna Stock Exchange is providing new free teaching materials on the topic of “Stock Exchange and Capital Market”. Their relevance is set to increase further, as economic and financial education is to be given greater emphasis at commercial colleges (HAK) and the upper secondary level of academic secondary schools (AHS) from the 2027/28 school year onwards. As a partner of Austria’s National Financial Literacy Strategy, the Vienna Stock Exchange is already supporting teachers in preparing students at an early stage to make sound financial decisions. The new “Stock Exchange and Capital Market” teaching materials are now available free of charge on the Vienna Stock Exchange website.
“Education is the best investor protection. Especially when it comes to a long-term issue such as retirement provision, it is crucial to lay the right foundations early on. Those who understand investment products and basic principles such as long-term investing, diversification and the relationship between risk and return are better equipped to shape their financial future independently,” says Christoph Boschan, CEO of Wiener Börse AG.
The Austrian “Aktienbarometer” illustrates just how relevant retirement provision is for the younger generation. The study, conducted by Peter Hajek on behalf of the Federation of Austrian Industries, Aktienforum and the Vienna Stock Exchange, shows that 82% of security holders aged 16 to 29 consider shares, funds and other securities important for their retirement provision. At the same time, 58% of respondents have little or no confidence that the state pension alone will be sufficient. Among those currently in education, only 27% believe that it will be sufficient.
The Vienna Stock Exchange has been actively committed to improving financial literacy for more than two decades. As part of the National Financial Literacy Strategy of the Federal Ministry of Finance, it provides teachers with free teaching materials, school lectures and workshops, and cooperates closely with universities of teacher education. Together with the WIFI Management Forum, the Vienna Stock Exchange also operates the Vienna Stock Exchange Academy, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. Reflecting the growing importance of long-term wealth accumulation, the Academy is introducing a new focus with its seminar “Retirement Provision with Securities”. Participants learn how securities investments can be used specifically to build up additional retirement provision. With its “Beteilig dich” (“Get involved”) campaign, the Vienna Stock Exchange also aims to give young people in particular an accessible introduction to retirement provision through the capital market.
