Learning to be money wise: Students participating in a simulation game at the FFL 2025 Summit.
Now in its seventh edition, the Fun(d) for Life (FFL) programme continues to empower youth with financial resilience through gamification and hands-on activities.
In conjunction with Financial Literacy Month in October, students across Malaysia participated in school-level projects supported by RM500 micro-grants, designing and running creative, finance-themed initiatives in their communities.
These ranged from organising budgeting carnivals in Sabah and peer-to-peer savings challenges in Kedah to launching awareness campaigns in schools and developing simple tools to help classmates track expenses in Terengganu.
From these showcases, 100 outstanding students were selected to form the inaugural FFL Student Council, representing schools nationwide.
At the four-day FFL 2025 Summit, held at UTM Hotel & Residences in Kuala Lumpur, the student council received facilitator training, conducted simulation workshops, and led gamified sessions on budgeting, saving, smart spending, and protection.
Through these sessions, the 100 council members directly engaged with 100 fellow students from the Klang Valley. Their role reflects an important evolution of the programme, moving from teacher-led lessons to youth-led advocacy, where students take the lead as champions of financial literacy in their schools and communities.
Over the years, FFL has proven that when financial education is engaging and hands-on, young people don’t just learn; they lead.
Empowering a student council to champion gamified lessons in their schools marks the next step in building real financial resilience nationwide.
The initiative continues to strengthen efforts to nurture confident, capable and financially-savvy youth who can influence their peers and communities for the long term.
FFL, said programme lead Alina Amir, was designed to make finance feel relevant, practical and doable.
“This year’s student council shows what happens when we hand the mic to students: they model positive money habits, teach their peers through interactive sessions, and turn financial literacy into a culture in schools,” she said in a Nov 13 press release.
FFL complements Malaysia’s financial literacy agenda under Bank Negara Malaysia, the Education Ministry, and the Financial Education Network, contributing to improvements in the Malaysian Financial Literacy and Capability Index, which has risen from 57.1 in 2018 to 59.1 last year.
This upward trend reflects greater financial awareness nationwide, and FFL strengthens this progress by embedding money management skills early among school-aged learners.
