FINANCIAL LITERACY AND PERSONAL FINANCE BEHAVIOUR OF POST GRADUATE STUDENTS IN SELECTED PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN OGUN STATE

Financial literacy continues to be an important determinant to wealth and successful financial well-being. Hence understanding it’s influence and impact to financial behaviour still remains in trend. The study therefore examines the influence of financial literacy on the personal finance behaviour of postgraduate students in selected private universities in Ogun state. A total of 5 private universities in Ogun state who offered postgraduate studies were selected for this study. Out of a total population of 2108 students, 390 were surveyed as the determined sample size of which 322 copies of the questionnaire were retrieved. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 26.0) and Partial Least Squares alongside Structural Equation Modelling was used to analyse the data financial knowledge, financial attitude and financial education were the independent variables for financial literacy while spending, savings and investment behaviours made up the dependent variables for personal financial behaviour. Findings showed that Financial Knowledge has a significant effect on the indicators of personal finance behaviour (saving, spending and investment). Financial education has a significant effect on the indicators of personal finance behaviour (i.e. saving, spending and investment). Financial Attitude has a non-significant relationship with the indicators of personal finance behaviour. The findings suggest that family conversations about money provide important financial knowledge and should be considered when developing a financial literacy curriculum. The study recommends that students of private universities in Nigeria need to adopt and develop strategies to improve the personal finance behaviour (i.e. saving, spending and investment) of postgraduate students in the selected private universities