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Half of the Kenyan adults are not financially cultured and lack relevant investment knowledge of suitable products for those willing to save and spend small sums, experts say.

This is despite the supposed growth in the formal financial inclusion in the country, which is believed to have doubled over the last decade, primarily on mobile phone proliferation and the increased popularity of mobile money services.

Brian Myers, the Chief commercial officer of the financial trading brokerage firm, Equiti Group says that the majority of adults still need help not only managing their day-to-day finances, but also long-term investment planning as the cost of living and runaway inflation continue to plunge millions of Kenyan household budgets into the red.

“What we are realizing in Kenya and across the world is that the youth completely over-estimate the long-term and over-estimate the short-term investments in the stocks market, for instance, so what we are asking them is to start thinking about their future and begin to take up financial literacy programs to stay abreast of available investment opportunities around them,” said Myers.

This comes amid concerns that the recently unveiled Hustler Fund – a State-backed digital financial inclusion initiative designed to improve financial access among small traders, risks running into challenges with the majority of those applying for such loans said to be deficient in the financial literacy awareness on how to invest the borrowed amounts and repayment ramifications.

“From those, we have talked to, about 330,000 youths through our financial literacy program, we are already seeing a positive shift since we launched the initiative three years ago,” said Myers, who noted that the urgency to improve financial literacy levels for wealth empowerment among Kenyans, was the sole motivation factor to pioneer financial literacy program, run through Fx-Pesa and powered by EGM Securities Limited which is part of Equiti Group.

A recent report by audit firm Deloitte found that only 2.9 percent of Kenyans rely on formal financial institutions for advice, compared to 88.3 percent who rely on themselves and their friends and family.

On Savings and Investments, the report budded, Beyond financial inclusion further finds that 54.6 percent of Kenyans lack enough money to save, 18.4 percent lack regular income, 34.9 percent of Kenyans don’t have the kind of money to invest, with only 29.2 percent having never heard of securities markets, and 14.8 percent don’t understand how to invest in securities.

“Over the last five years, financial health in Kenya deteriorated, even as access to and usage of formal financial services increased. Most Kenyan adults still face challenges that limit their ability to manage present and future needs,” reads in part the Deloitte findings.

Financial illiteracy, among such individuals, can result in poor savings, poor spending, excessive credit card use, and bad investment decisions. To some extent, the stress of financial insecurity in some families can lead to divorce, suicide, domestic violence, and other crimes.

“Over the last three years, we have partnered with 12 Universities in an effort to address such challenges that we believe limit their ability to manage present and future needs. And as a society, we need to have knowledge of financial markets,” offered Samwel Kiraka, the CEO of EGM securities.