Emotional Intelligence and Personal Finances in the Academic Curricula: A Critical Analysis of Their Potential Synergies

The research addresses two major topics, Emotional Intelligence and Personal Finance, and the need to be permanently included in the academic curricula. The purpose of the paper consists in raising awareness within the teaching community on the relevance of these two topics for the personal and professional development of students. Furthermore, the research identifies the potential positive synergies between emotional intelligence and personal finances for students when both subjects are included in the academic curricula. The study proposes several conceptual findings via the literature review and showcases how emotional intelligence could have a higher positive effect than Intelligent Quotient when managing personal finances, and how individuals with a higher Emotional Intelligence become more effective in their professional development and more financially independent. The paper also signifies the importance of money attitude and self-efficacy in individual’s financial management behavior and identifies the positive synergies between Emotional Intelligence and personal finance management on students’ academic and professional development.