Investigation of the Financial Literacy Levels of Public Employees on Some of the Socio-Demographic Variables

Recently, with the increasing diversity of financial instruments and financial deepening, the impact of financial factors on economic growth and development has become more important. In order to be successful in financial markets and to use the resources effectively, a learned financial literacy up to the household is needed. In this sense, the concept of financial literacy has become an important topic for researchers. Financial literacy, which is also referred to as the ability of individuals to maintain income and expense balances, to make savings, that is to manage money, requires sufficient knowledge of financial management. Thanks to financial literacy, individuals both have the right information about financial instruments and can make healthier financial decisions together with the gains of savings. A financial literate individual is a person who can achieve income-expense balance, prepare a budget, make savings for the future and manage debt. Since financial literacy has positive effects on individual financing, it also contributes positively to the balance of social finance. This study was conducted to examine the financial literacy levels of public employees in Beyşehir district of Konya according to some socio-demographic characteristics (gender, marital status, age, occupation and educational status). In this context, 203 public employees working in Beyşehir district of Konya were applied a questionnaire of 69 questions, 7 of which were personal information forms and 62 of which were financial literacy. The answers were interpreted by analyzing the frequency, percentage, t test, Anova and chi-square tests in SPSS package program. According to the results of the research, some statistically significant differences were found in participants financial attitudes and behaviors, knowledge of basic financial concepts and financial investment preferences according to gender, occupation, age, marital status and educational status. It was found that academicians and civil servants had higher level of financial concept knowledge than teachers and workers (p 0.01); There was no statistically significant difference between gender, marital status and age variables and basic financial knowledge level and investment preferences of public employees (p 0.05). According to the results of the research, civil servants considered themselves ‘quite successful med in managing the financial situation compared to other public employees; teachers are more prone to regular money saving than other public employees; it is observed that the workers prefer to accumulate monthly gold more than other public employees.