Financial Literacy and Risk-Taking of Households in the Hungarian Central Great Plain

Abstract

The intense innovational activity typical of the financial sector in the last 30 years requires households to have increas-ingly comprehensive and complex financial knowledge. The main objective of our study, therefore, was to assess and evaluate risk management activity, which is an integral part of financial literacy, using the questionnaire survey focusing on households of the Central Great Plain and conducted by the Kossuth College of Lakitelek as basis. We have determined that the households examined are conservative with respect to their finances and strive to minimise risks as much as possible, which is commendable. Unfortunately, however, they lack the financial knowledge to make prudent decisions. In truth, risk management strategy based on inadequate knowledge, but thought to be sound is nothing more than a substitution of risk types, the significance of which house-holds are unable to assess realistically as they lack necessary financial knowledge.