Brechas y desafíos en la educación financiera en Ecuador: Un estudio realizado al cantón Portoviejo, año 2025.

Abstract

Abstract: This study evaluates the financial capabilities of residents in the city of Portoviejo, examining their knowledge, attitudes, and behavior regarding financial products, with the aim of identifying the barriers that prevent them from accumulating wealth. This research employs a quantitative approach, revealing that the population maintains a high level of financial inclusion in both transactional and consumer products. However, there is also a critical exclusion of value, manifested in the lack of adoption of long-term planning tools such as investments and pension plans. The main findings include high operational inclusion, with 88.7% using savings accounts and 50.41% using digital transactions. This gap is attributed to a fragile labor market (23.68% self-employed) and a marked self-confidence bias, demonstrating that one of the main obstacles is not access, but rather a significant lack of behavioral and cognitive knowledge. On the one hand, attitudes are dominated by financial vulnerability, where concern for daily well-being displaces future planning. On the other hand, the population also suffers from excessive self-confidence that masks a lack of objective knowledge about vital concepts such as inflation and diversification. The contribution of this work is to guide future educational interventions and public policies toward a behavioral approach, reducing false security to foster genuine economic resilience.