The students heard earning, saving, spending and investing are the four main principals they need to understand to ensure they make the most of their personal finance in a workshop titled “Start Smart”.

The two-hour Commonwealth Bank Foundation interactive money management workshop, run by national program co-ordinator Sasa Javanovic, covered topics including money saving strategies, budgeting, managing mobile phones, obtaining a job, controlling spending and understanding simple investments.

Mr Jovanovic said the program was funded by the money which remained unclaimed when the Commonwealth Bank’s children’s saving program, Dolomites, was phased out.

“The bank saw it as a chance to reinvest it into the same purpose the Dolomites had, to teach kids about saving.”

With a cool $80 million unclaimed, the money is now used to ensure the children of today understand sometimes complex personal finance.

With looking after personal finance one of life’s most important skills, the workshop aims to improve one million students’ financial literacy over the next five years.

To increase the students’ retention of the skills they learnt, Mr Jovanovic encouraged the students to take part in dress up activities to help illustrate his lesson.

Student Jade Belling, 16, said she is now hoping to apply what she learnt on the day into her every day life.

Recently beginning her first job, she said everyone walked away from the workshop with a better understanding of finance.

“I think everyone learnt something. Now I can understand more about certain things.

“It clicked in the brain when he talked about the car loans and about different bank accounts.”

“He made it interesting and made it all relate to us.”