De los sellos a las criptos: ¿qué saben los ciudadanos de los productos financieros que compran?
Las estafas, las inversiones fallidas y las espirales de endeudamiento ponen a prueba la educación financiera de cada generación
Three different stories emerged from the same era of financial decision-making: 2006, 2011, and 2021. Each involved people trusting those who promised high returns through novel products.
Laura Salgado, in 2006, put 60,000 euros into Afinsa, an Spanish group selling stamps with future buyback commitments. She didn't examine the stamps or fully understand what she was buying, but trusted her friend's advice. A year later, the scheme collapsed, exposing a pyramid scam that affected 400,000 people and cost 2.8 billion euros. Salgado recovered only one-tenth of her money after Afinsa entered bankruptcy.
In 2011, Miguel García listened to his branch director who offered him preferentes, a type of savings deposit. He didn't question the offer and signed the necessary paperwork, trusting his director who claimed to know the risks. Less than a year later, the banking crisis hit and Caixa Galicia collapsed. Miguel accepted a settlement from the company to avoid legal troubles.
In 2021, Jordi Guirao heard from a friend about memecoins, cryptocurrency investments that yielded large sums. He too decided to invest, unaware of the risks. The story of the Spanish populace's financial ignorance during these years is further highlighted by the aftermath of the 2008 crisis, which exposed the need for financial education.
The Banco de España acknowledged that financial education had been neglected, leading to the creation of the first Plan of Financial Education in 2008. Despite progress, a 2021 survey showed that Spanish citizens were still only slightly above the OECD average in financial literacy.
Written by urgent.news from El Pais Economia's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
