Spreading community financial skills through comics

Within the framework of the program "Cashless Day 2024", Tuoi Tre Newspaper organized and invited Ms. Le Thi Thuy Sen - Director of the Department of Communications (State Bank of Vietnam - author of the comic book "Be smart with money - Avoid worries" (best seller book of Kim Dong Publishing House) to interact at the workshop program "Understanding money" at the Cashless Day Festival taking place at Nguyen Hue Walking Street at 9:00 a.m. on June 15, 2024.

Notably, Tuoi Tre Newspaper also invited to the program two very famous characters who are extremely loved by young people: Lo Lem (real name is Mai Thao Linh, 18 years old), the eldest daughter of male MC Quyen Linh and Hat De (real name is Mai Thao Ngoc). The program also had the appearance of artist Thang Fly - the illustrator for the book. Mr. Tran Xuan Toan - Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Tuoi Tre Newspaper attended the program. In addition, there were many young readers in Ho Chi Minh City.

Author Le Thi Thuy Sen, artist Thang Fly and Lo Lem, Hat De

At the same time, here, young people also receive and spread knowledge and good things in life through interactive minigames and many interesting gifts.

Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Tuoi Tre Newspaper, Mr. Tran Xuan Toan at the program

Young readers interact with the author at the program

Ms. Le Thi Thuy Sen shared that the goal of writing the book is to provide the most basic knowledge, skills, and finances to readers. This book is a source of materials to contribute to improving the understanding and financial skills of the community.

Author Le Thi Thuy Sen: MSc, Director of the Communications Department of the State Bank of Vietnam , Member of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Women's Union, has more than 20 years of experience working in the fields of finance - banking, communications, deposit insurance; consultant for the TV programs "Smart Money" of VTV3 and "Key Treasurer" of VTV1.

In fact, in developed countries, financialeducation is of great concern. In developing countries, this is a relatively new issue. In Vietnam, this issue is currently of great concern. The Prime Minister has approved the National Financial Inclusion Strategy. In reality, many people have encountered risks, even financial tragedies, lost money, and been taken advantage of by bad guys due to gaps in knowledge, for example, not being able to distinguish the difference between savings deposits, deposit certificates, fund certificates, bonds, stocks, etc.

Ms. Sen shared about the process of creation and the idea when writing the book: “ I wrote the book as a blessing. I am not a professional writer so I do not focus on the book being famous or a best seller. Each book has its own value. The most meaningful thing for me and the people who made the book is that the financial knowledge and profound messages in the book are widely spread in the community and are positively received by readers. I would like to thank all those who helped me complete it, the beloved readers and those who made efforts to bring this book to the community .”

At the same time, Ms. Sen also said that she hopes and will be very happy when the book continues to spread more to the community, especially the youth. " I am very happy to receive feedback that many young people have changed their thinking and actions after reading the book. Many families have shared knowledge together, many parents want their children to read it and many young people go to the library to read the book during the summer vacation " - she said.

Talking to readers about how to convey dry, academic banking and finance knowledge to readers in the most understandable way, the author said: “ When writing, I always wonder how to make the book creative, unique and innovative. The most difficult thing when I write is to convey professional knowledge about finance, currency, and banking so that anyone who reads it can see their own image in it, easy to understand, easy to apply. Folk songs, proverbs, idioms, traditions, culture, and national history have helped me to convey financial and banking knowledge in a simple way to readers. The readers I want to target are families, especially young people. Young people live in a "flat world " society, their absorption, learning, and vision of the world are probably very different from the older generation, and many people worry about the "side effects" of integration on young people. Therefore, when writing about financial knowledge, I want to incorporate profound messages and the meaning of life. Financial knowledge in The context of integration with the world is guided by folk songs, proverbs, and idioms, which will probably deeply instill in young people the good things and good experiences that the previous generation wants to convey to all of us. At the same time, writing stories in pictures will make it easier for readers to understand and access .

Readers take souvenir photos with the program

Contributing to the success of the book is the very vivid and soulful illustrations, through the talent of artist Thang Fly: "I admire the intensity of Ms. Le Thi Thuy Sen's work, appreciate her dedication, serious work, and the dedication and passion she puts into the book."

“The cute character of Credit can live in the entertainment industry, has a relatively common personality. In addition, the book is about banking and finance, so at first it was difficult for me to draw concepts such as credit loans and interest rates… After finishing the comic book, I also gained more useful knowledge about banking and finance” – he said.

At the program, Lo Lem shared, “Reading the book, I learned a lot of valuable knowledge, including protecting accounts, lessons about saving, about family love, and appreciating the value of labor.”

Hat De said, “I find the financial knowledge conveyed in the book very easy to understand, simple, and easy to remember.”

Immediately after its launch, the book became a publishing phenomenon in the scientific knowledge book system of Kim Dong Publishing House with 35 thousand copies published and prepared for reprinting, being welcomed and loved by readers of all ages. In addition to being welcomed by domestic readers, the book is highly appreciated by international organizations when recently, the International Cooperation Fund of German Savings Banks has just introduced on its website the book "Be Smart with Money - Avoid Worry" - The first financial comic book by a Vietnamese author for Vietnamese families.

Dr. Le Xuan Nghia - Member of the National Monetary Policy Advisory Council: "This is the first unique and creative comic book about banking and finance in Vietnam for children, families and most of us."

Associate Professor, Dr. Truong Gia Binh - Chairman of the Board of Directors of FPT Corporation : "You should read this book. This book is meaningful in raising the national knowledge about finance, giving us many thoughts about life and anyone who reads it will see themselves in it. Readers will gain knowledge, avoid financial and investment risks, live with more aspirations and responsibility for themselves, their families and society ."

Artist Thang Fly (Bui Dinh Thang) : “I illustrated the book in the shortest time, with the largest amount of work ever. There is information in the book that needs to be accurate, it has been edited 11 times and still not finished. There are 1,000 versions of 300 pages. The author and we had to work together to think of ways to illustrate vividly.”

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha - Party Cell Secretary, Principal of Trung Vuong Secondary School, Hanoi: “Financial education for students while still in school is necessary, but there are not many documents and learning materials in Vietnam for students, most of them are imported. The comic book “Be smart with money – Avoid worries” has brought students new, useful and valuable knowledge about finance”.

Mr. Tran Ngoc Kien (68 years old) - Thai Binh: During this summer vacation, I just welcomed my grandchildren to visit and saw them discussing enthusiastically about the book "Being Smart with Money - Avoiding Worry". I read it with my grandchildren and found the topics in the book very useful for all family members, including older people like me, to avoid financial risks in daily life.

Mai Thao Linh (Cinderella) - MC Quyen Linh's daughter: "Cinderella read the book from beginning to end with valuable financial knowledge through many touching stories. The book inspired the efforts, compassion, and responsibility of children towards their family and society."

PV