‘Ring the Bell for Financial Literacy’, an event to inaugurate the 8th edition of the World Investor Week, took place on 7 October 2024. 

Sebastian Skuza addressed his speech to students of last grades of secondary schools, who will soon be dealing with their first independent decisions regarding finances and investment, as well as to teachers.

‘I would like each one of you to learn the basic rule of investment according to the message of the World Investor Week campaign: ‘Look before you leap: you have to understand what you’re putting your money into.’ 

Sometimes what attracts investors are big profits and seemingly low risk. For some complex investments and scams promising high profit and loss risk, the profits shine brighter than the risk of losing money, that’s why offers of that kind become very attractive.

Sebastian Skuza emphasised that before making any financial decision one should recall the message from this year’s campaign, i.e. that a smart investor:

• understands the risks associated with crypto-assets, including non-compliance with applicable regulations, fraud, volatility, misleading endorsements, and potential bankruptcy or insolvency of the issuer or intermediary
• never makes investment decisions based solely on celebrity endorsements
• doesn’t follow unverified recommendations posted on the internet
• understands the new possibilities offered by modern technologies but is aware of any potential negative influence on their actions due to behavioural biases
• understands how to use digital tools that can help with their finances and knows that those tools do not prevent loss or fraud. 

He said that before making investment decisions, one should dedicate time to research, even with today’s fast pace of investing. He also said that each market participant should be able to distinguish a reliable online source of information from unreliable sources.

The next part of the meeting included presentations by: 

• Elżbieta Lech, Manager at the Investment Firms Department, UKNF – ‘Influencers as a source of information on financial markets. Why it’s worth investing in what I understand and what I’ve checked’.
• Agata Ślusarek, Chief Specialist at the Cybersecurity Department, UKNF – ‘How not to get scammed on the internet’.

The event had been organised by: GPW, UKNF, KDPW, GPW Foundation.

To learn more about the World Investor Week, in Poland coordinated by the Office of the Polish Financial Supervision (UKNF), and this year’s edition of the event, please visit: https://www.knf.gov.pl/co_robimy/edukacja_finansowa/WIW

The photographs of the ‘Ring the Bell for Financial Literacy’ event are by Anna Rejman.