Financial Literacy, Perspectives, and Practices of Public Secondary Teachers in Urban Municipalities of Nueva Vizcaya

Abstract

Financial literacy is one of the biggest problems facing government employees, especially teachers.
Based on the Salary Standardization Law 1, public teachers have better compensation than any other government
employees, considering their basic salary and all of the benefits. However, teachers were financially challenged in
understanding and managing their own finances. Therefore, the study focused on the level of financial literacy,
financial perspectives, and financial practices of the public junior high school teachers who are permanent for at
least two years in their respective schools in the urban municipalities (Bayombong, Bambang, and Solano) of Nueva
Vizcaya. Moreover, the concept of the study was drawn from the theories of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, areas of
personal finance, financial literacy identifiers and core competencies, top-down processing theory, and behavioral
finance. In addition, the study used a descriptive-inferential research design, and data were analyzed using several
statistical tools. The result of the study showed that public secondary teachers have a high level of financial literacy
and financial perspectives. But this is in contrast to the level of financial practices, which yield a low result. Based
on the result of the study, the researchers recommend a personal finance model for improving the level of financial
literacy and the perspectives and practices of public secondary teachers.