Although social inequality cannot be reduced to financial matters, it is reflected in them to a particular degree. Financial literacy has become increasingly important in adult education in recent years. Consumer decisions are becoming more complex and, under the dominance of neo-liberal discourse, the responsibility of the state is being reduced compared to the personal responsibility of the individual (Fernandes et al., 2014). The neoliberal view stands in contrast to the call to ‘leave no one behind’, as formulated in the SDGs (Vargas-Tamez, 2019, S. 245).

The financial scope of vulnerable groups has shrunk further in the context of the financial crisis, the pandemic and current acts of war. International organisations as OECD (for Germany: OECD, 2024a) and World Bank (Ansar et al., 2023) call for financial literacy strategies. Various countries are responding by designing specific programmes. This article outlines the educational framework of the 2023 financial education strategy in Germany showing that, from a neoliberal perspective, little attention is paid to vulnerable groups. It then uses recent data from the PIAAC study (OECD, 2024b) to identify specific disadvantages along the categories of gender and migration.

Financial literacy has been measured in many international comparative and national studies. International comparisons reveal some significant differences between countries (Demertzis et al., 2024; Klapper et al., 2015; OECD & INFE, 2020), but also between different subpopulations. Less attention has been paid to adults' everyday financial practices. Bearing in mind the correlation between competences and practices this contribution looks at everyday financial practices, with the question of what differences emerge between population groups when comparing countries, and what conclusions can be drawn for financial education strategies that focus specifically on issues of vulnerability and social inequality. Secondary analyses of the first PIAAC cycle have shown that economically vulnerable groups in particular frequently use finance-related practices in everyday life (Grotlüschen et al., 2019).

Among competing definitions of financial literacy, the triad of financial knowledge, financial behaviour and financial attitudes has emerged as a common model (Beckker, 2020, S. 15). Although the importance of financial behaviour, i.e. financial practices, is emphasised in various ways (Nicolini et al., 2013; on practices and skills in general, Reder et al., 2020), it still appears under-researched. Data from the Survey of Adult Skills allows for comparing financial practices across countries in relation to sub-populations.

Gender as a category of difference: Women are said to have a particular need for financial education due to more frequent career interruptions (Sholevar & Harris, 2020) and discrimination due to gender stereotypes (Bottazzi & Lusardi, 2020; Greimel-Fuhrmann & Silgoner, 2017). At the same time, studies show that women are ascribed lower levels of financial literacy (Bucher‐Koenen et al., 2017). Beyond individual socio-demographic characteristics, other factors include women's limited access to employment and entrepreneurship, social norms and unequal legal treatment of men and women (OECD, 2013) and gender regimes (Halwachs, 2010), as well as welfare state frameworks and family policies. Differences between countries in the social role of women can therefore explain part of the gender gap (Grohmann, 2016).

Migration as a category of difference: As migration often involves individuals learning a new (written) language, while entering a society with a possibly unfamiliar financial and social security system, immigrants can be described as having particular difficulties with everyday financial practices (Atkinson & Messy, 2015). Findings on the link between migration and financial literacy point to disadvantages of migrants (Bachmann et al., 2021). In Germany, gender and migration gaps are particularly pronounced, suggesting an intersectional perspective (Ahairwe & Bisong, 2022).

The conference paper presents examples of the results of the analyses of the two difference categories gender and migration. The article uses empirical data from the Survey of Adult Skills 2023 (PIAAC: Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, OECD, 2024b) for secondary analyses. The survey measures domain-specific basic skills of adults in 31 countries, including 22 European countries. It moreover gathered information on the frequency with which adults engage in everyday maths and financial practices in their daily lives and at work. When conducting the study, the sample size was set at a minimum of 4,500 cases per country, so that even subsamples generally have sufficient case numbers for detailed analyses. Analyses are carried out using R/R Studio and following the technical recommendations of the organisations providing the data. The analyses focus on data on adults' everyday practices from which conclusions can be drawn about financial behaviour. The data have been available for secondary use since December 2024 as public use files. Scientific use files which allow for analysing in more details regarding aspects of migration will be available during March 2025. Therefore, multivariate results are not yet available but will be presented on the conference. For the conference paper, regression models are calculated for the two difference categories of gender and migration in a cross-country comparison. The dependent variables are financial practices: Using information to make financial decisions (e.g. household budget, insurance, loans); reading bills, bank statements or other financial statements; making calculations, e.g. calculating prices, costs or quantities, taking measurements of various kinds, reading and making tables and graphs, and using mathematics and statistics. The control variables will be selected based on theory and current research. Possible control variables are readings skills, employment situation, age, formal education, social capital, household structure, use of digital technology, everyday numeracy. When presenting the results, particular attention is paid to presenting the results in a comprehensible form and always highlighting those aspects that are particularly relevant for deriving recommendations for action.

The results presented in this proposal refer to the situation in Germany. The paper presentation will also offer international comparison. Analyses to date (as of January 2025) indicate that men and women perform calculations in everyday life or - if employed - read financial statements at work with similar frequency. When it comes to using information to make financial decisions, men are significantly more active in this respect than women. This can be related to the position of Jean Lave (1988), who proposes a distinction between small money (household money) and big money (financial decisions), whereby she describes big money as the domain ascribed to men. Among immigrant adults, the proportion of those who (have to) deal with costs on a daily basis is higher than among non-immigrants. This confirms the finding that people in more vulnerable positions must necessarily have a regular overview of available funds and costs to be incurred due to limited financial flexibility (Grotlüschen et al., 2019). Regarding the search for information when making financial decisions, the data shows that immigrant adults deal with such strategic issues proportionately less often. Access to the scientific use files will enable more precise analyses here, controlling for other factors, which will be presented in the lecture. Even if multivariate analyses are still pending, the results to date already indicate that the findings of previous research (see abstract) can be confirmed in part, namely that women and immigrants are systematically disadvantaged in terms of their financial opportunities. Corresponding educational needs can be derived from this.

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