Challenges to Financial Freedom of Public-School Teachers in Urdaneta City

Abstract

The overarching objective of this research is to investigate the challenges to financial freedom of public-school teachers in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan. The current study focused on three areas: cash management; credit management; and saving and investments. This research followed a descriptive design and utilized survey as its method. Four Point Likert’s Scaling Technique was computed to examine the three key measures of financial literacy and behavior of the public-school teachers. Data gathered were also compared in terms of schools in Urdaneta City and its school levels. The survey was conducted among public-school teachers in Urdaneta City. Results shows that the level of financial behavior of public-school teachers is not high as with their level of financial literacy and merely reflects the challenges that they are facing right now. Contributing to these findings is the public-school teachers’ financial behavior according to their age, family structure and other income as reflected with their responses. Integrating financial education to the public-school teachers can be an effective means not only in increasing financial literacy, but also to improve their financial behavior to be financially freedom. While the current study provided server insights on the current level of financial literacy and behavior of public-school teachers in terms of the three areas, further research is necessary to validate these findings.