Mungai et al.pdf - Prime Journals

Mungai et al., 906Educating the youth on investment opportunitiesInvestment education is increasingly important, and notjust for investors. It is becoming essential for the averagefamily trying to decide how to balance its budget, buy ahome, fund the children‟s education and ensure anincome when the parents retire. For one thing, thegrowing sophistication of financial markets meansconsumers are not just choosing between interest rateson two different bank loans or savings plans, but arerather being offered a variety of complex financialinstruments for borrowing and saving, with a large rangeof options. At the same time, the responsibility and riskfor financial decisions that will have a major impact on anindividual‟s future life, notably pensions are being shiftedincreasingly to workers and away from government andemployers. As life expectancy is increasing, the pensionquestion is particularly important as individuals will beenjoying longer periods of retirement. Individuals will notbe able to choose the right savings or investments forthemselves, and may be at risk of fraud, if they are notfinancially literate. But if individuals do become financiallyeducated, they will be more likely to save and tochallenge financial service providers to develop productsthat truly respond to their needs, and that should havepositive effects on both investment levels and economicgrowth.Human capital is a crucial factor that determinesproductivity of a country and is a key engine of economicgrowth. For employers it is an important factor thatinfluences the competitive position on the product market.For employees human capital investment improves theirposition on the labour market and is an importantdeterminant of individuals‟ earning capacity andemployability. Education is also associated with otherpersonnel and social welfare benefits, including greaterhappiness, better health and greater longevity. Humancapital formation concerns initial education andmaintenance, company training. Underinvestment ingeneral and firm-specific human capital is a reality (Bayeret al., 2006)Employment opportunities for the youthAccording to the Mobius (2004), 160 million people in theworld today are unemployed, and many more subsist onthe margins of the economy or have jobs that do notprovide them with adequate means to ensure theirsurvival. Nearly 40 per cent of those without work areyoung people, and levels of unemployment tend to betwo to three times higher for this group than for the adultpopulation. For those young people who are employed,many find themselves in low-paying temporary jobs withfew protections. With the world population projected togrow by 110 million during this decade and withtechnological advances leading to further“rationalizations” of labour demand, some 500 millionnew jobs have to be created within the next 10 yearsmerely to maintain the status quo. Current trends in jobcreation offer little hope that growth on this scale can beachieved. The situation is particularly grave for youngpeople, as demographic trends suggest a hugeimbalance between the supply of young workers and thedemand for their labour (Mobius, 2004).Vibrant, creative, and energetic – these wordsessentially sum up today‟s youth. Ironically, the samequalities in youth, if thwarted, lead to social unrest,conflict, and economic instability Mobius (2004). Youngpeople when productively employed are an asset to theircommunities and to the world. It is imperative thatstructures be generated to ensure sustainableemployment and sustainable environments for youngpeople. But the reality is that there are a billion youngadults – between the ages of 15 and 24 – in the worldtoday, eighty-five percent of them live in developingcountries where there are few opportunities for productivework. The International Labor Organization indicates thatthe unemployment rate in 1997 for OECD nations foryouth ages 15 to 25 age was 13.4 percent, more thantwice as high as the comparable figure for adults (5.9percent). In developing countries, existing data suggestthat the gap between youth and adult employment ratesis far wider. This large group of young people cannot beabsorbed in urban and industrial employment, at least inthe short run. High levels of youth unemploymentcontribute to poverty, discontent, alienation, social unrest,conflict, and urban migration, all of which hindereconomic growth and threaten political stability (Mobius,2004).Young adults must have meaningful employmentopportunities in order to build stable and sustainablecommunities. Young people, when gainfully employed,represent a tremendous resource for developing andindustrialized nations; they bring energy, creativity, andimagination to many nation-building tasks, from buildinginfrastructure to preserving the environment. But until aglobal, collaborative approach is developed thatempowers youth to promote environmental sustainability,and make this an economically viable alternative, avaluable asset to help address global environmentalgoals will remain untapped.METHODOLOGYDescriptive research design was employed in this study.The study targeted a population of 5000 registeredstudents at USIU, Nairobi. Simple random samplingtechnique was used. Questionnaires were administeredon 100 students with 80 responses, representing 80%response rate. Data analysis was done using frequencytables and the use of Statistical Package for SocialSciences (SPSS) software.FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONProducts that university students would want toinvestThe study findings on the various investment products