Resumo:
Facing an increasingly diversified and dynamic economic market, and despite financial
education presenting growth in recent years, the Brazilian population has deficiencies in
responsibilities and decision making as well as their effective knowledge about finances
seems to be deficient. This work diagnosed the financial education of students residing in the
Federal Institute of Minas Gerais - Bambuí Campus, from the analysis of the financial
knowledge index, associating them with personality factors measured by the Big Five
Inventory. The research proposal was quantitative, descriptive and applied. Fifty-seven
students from the institute's higher education courses, who benefit from the Student Housing
program, participated in the research. The sample was selected by invitation. The data were
collected through a survey, treated and analyzed quantitatively with the help of SPSS
software. The research showed a low level of financial knowledge in the population studied.
The students showed a lack of knowledge about concepts such as interest, inflation, insurance
and investment risk analysis. Furthermore, based on the research results, no association was
found between the financial knowledge index and the personality factors. These results
allowed the elaboration of a mini course product so that the population could receive
knowledge about the theme and opportunities to apply it in their financial life. Financial
education is seen as an important instrument to fill this gap and, applied to the studied public,
it raises this research to a healthier level, since college students represent the future of the
intellectual and productive capacity of the country.
