Asian American Financial Literacy Video Exceeds One Million Views

A financial literacy video produced with the goal of raising awareness of financial education for Asian American college students surpassed one million views on YouTube, according Wells Fargo and the Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF), the largest non-profit college scholarship provider for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.  Dubbed “Save the Date”, the comedic video was produced in partnership with Wong Fu Productions.

The video was released initially on mid-September as part of the APIASF Jump Start College Tour at Georgia State University and, since that time, there has been widespread distribution of the video on Wong Fu’s YouTube channel, while simultaneously being circulated through social media.

Wells Fargo is a founding member of APIASF and has been a central force behind broader efforts to provide greater access to higher education for Asian and Pacific Island students.  The Wells Fargo strategy is to help increase the financial literacy of such students as a means to improving their understanding of important financial concepts and to enhancing their ability to make more informed financial decisions for themselves and their families.

The video was developed on the basis of results gathered from a financial literacy survey conducted for the APIASF scholarship recipients, who provided key insight with respect to how those students seek financial information and what they identify as their most important financial concerns.

Many contend that videos, digital communications and social media are among the most effectivel ways to provide financial education in today’s fast-moving environment.  Non-profit organizations, researchers, government agencies, private and corporate foundations, and other key stakeholders in the financial literacy space are all espousing more digital and innovative means of communicating with their constituencies.  Given the expansive range of communications channels that individuals embrace to get information and connect with their contacts in today’s world, the prevalence of financial literacy content and resources across these channels should bode very well for the financial literacy movement in the months and years ahead.