A Study of Cognitive Biases in Personal Financial Decision-making and How Financial Literacy Education Helps People Avoid Irrational Decision Based on Interviews with Financial Practitioners

Current financial literacy education for adolescents often emphasizes the rote transmission of knowledge while paying insufficient attention to how cognitive biases interfere with financial judgment; consequently, many adolescents struggle to make rational personal financial decisions even after mastering key financial concepts. To address this gap, this paper conducted a series of interviews with financial educators, wealth managers, and community financial leaders to examine cognitive biases in personal financial contexts and to synthesize financial practitioners' insights on how financial education can help the people avoid irrational financial judgments. Drawing on the author's practical experiences managing the FTFPP youth financial education program, the paper discussed and reflected on the interview findings to explore pathways for optimizing financial literacy education for adolescents.

Keywords: Adolescents; financial literacy education; personal financial decision-making; cognitive biases; informational interviews