Financial Education

[LikeJohnnYoko]

I was talking (ranting) to the lovely KellyHook earlier on MSN about financial education.

What got me thinking is, that generally, we're not taught how to manage our finances, run our houses (tenants rights etc) and how to budget and save, about bank accounts and their features at school.

I think we should be. In fact, I think it is far, far more important than many of the things that people are taught at school.

How many of us on here could have done with proper education in this sort of thing? Do you think that if you had been taught how to manage your finances, claim what you're entitled to etc it would have made your life easier?

Are there any members who were taught this stuff by your parents and has that helped you as you've left home and got on with your adult lives?

 

[netty]

I did business studies for gcse! But forgot it all lol I was taught it in school tho but didn't give a toot!

 

[LikeJohnnYoko]

I did business studies for gcse! But forgot it all lol I was taught it in school tho but didn't give a toot!

Yeah, that's not quite what I mean I mean like home economics rather than business economics.

 

[netty]

oh they tauht you all about home finance too, just not in a good way!

i think it needs to be made exciting and interesting to learn about! as all i remember is thinking ''bah! as if i need toknow this!

and i did!!!

i think more awareness should be raised about debt and how easy it is to fall into it!

 

[VikkiR]

Don't they teach maths anymore then? I think it's more about personal responsibility than anything else. Youngsters priorities can be a lot different to us oldies. I never had a problem when I was a whippersnapper

 

[LikeJohnnYoko]

Don't they teach maths anymore then? I think it's more about personal responsibility than anything else. Youngsters priorities can be a lot different to us oldies. I never had a problem when I was a whippersnapper

Well, the teaching of maths is all well and good, but it's more than that. I'd like to have been taught about actual budgeting, about pensions, the variety of financial products out there, the dangers of store cards etc.

 

[beckyboo1]

I kinda think it's a parental responsibility- that's certainly where I learnt from as I followed my parents ways.

Ie. if you can't afford it, you don't buy it. You save for it!!

I suspect they probably could do more in school but as lunettes says you'll find it hard to get kids to take it in cos at that age it never seems like you'll have to do that sort of stuff.

 

[l_maclean]

I'd say I got most of that from my folks.

In fact, by time I was 14, I didn't weekly pocket money, I got a monthly allowance that had to last all month, my dinner money was included in that as well.

Then when I got a proper job, my mum to a third of my wages every week bed and board (although they gave me it back when I was at uni.)

Xxx


On my iPhone - so cant see tickers

 

[pringle88]

I agree I think it's a parental responsibility. I know if I was taught about it whilst at school I wouldn't have taken much on board.. because I didn't have any responsibilities it would have seemed irrelevant

 

[Froslass]

I agree that it should be a parents responsibility.

BUT

Look at where our Country is at the moment! It's clear the some parents don't posess the knowledge to pass on to their children, so I think it would be good to teach it in schools.

 

[Iriki]

TBH ladies it's not rocket science to work out how much you have coming in every month, how much you need to pay out and then the remainder is for savings, personal spends etc...
Re store cards, credit cards etc.... My parents always told me to clear the balance every month...that way you don't incur interest payments. A lot of the time if you want to make a major purchase, it's better to take out a personal loan from a bank rather than buy on your credit card as the interest rates are generally way lower. Unless of course you have an interest free credit card but in that case you need to ensure that you pay the balance in full before that interest free period expires.
Hire purchase arrangements are a recipe for disaster... What's wrong with doing things the old fashioned way and saving until you can afford to buy something..I sound like such a nana but it seems to be all about instant gratification these days - that's not healthy.
In terms of life insurance and assurance, income protection and pension planning..... Again, if you think about it, the younger you start putting these things in place (a) the more reasonable the policy rates will be and (b) the larger the nest egg, security buffer etc. you will have.
It's all quite simple.
If I sound harsh, I don't mean to be.... I just have very little tolerance for people who run up huge credit card debts , overdrafts etc...purely as a result of living beyond their means. We can all count, add and subtract.... So where does the difficulty lie?
I know life can throw us curveballs etc and we never know what's round the corner career wise especially these days.. Hence you have income protection in place , to shelter you should the worst happen. And what's wrong with good old saving.... Again my trusty old parents insisted that when I bought my first house that in addition to the deposit, legal fees and initial moving in costs of decorating etc... I had also saved 6 months worth of mortgage repayments so in the event of something happening which made me unable to make those payments, I at least had some time up my sleeve.. But again, none of this is rocket science ..... It's just common sense.
Basically if you can't afford to do something...don't do it. Always think worst case scenario and ensure your necessities are covered. It is after all, no-one else's responsibility.
Ok, lecture over

 

[LuciaLeek]

I totally agree with Iriki on this!
It's the responsibility of parents to pass on sound knowledge and if they don't then as you say, we can all do basic arithmetic and have basic common sense (hopefully )
Teenagers aren't interested in this kind of thing as it's irrelevant to them anywayanyway. Plus, things change all of the time so what you're taught in school is seriously not going to mean anything in the economic world 10 or 20 years after you've done your GCSEs.

 

[Froslass]

I totally agree with you Iriki.

I do think people should have the common sense.

but I just don't think a lot of people do have the common sense!

 

[tweetyfoo]

I think this is a brilliant idea.

I was brought up in a benefits family ... there's no point in working when the government will give you money for nothing, and here have a free house sort of a deal.

I had no clue what a mortgage was, or how to pay bills (my only concept of bills was putting money in the electric meter!)

I didn't know anything about credit cards, bank accounts or interest rates etc and I left home at 17 in search of a better future than the one laid out for me.

Several years down the line and I'm with a man who equally has no concept of finance (and many other issues to boot) - I pluck up the courage to leave him ... he retaliates with running up over £15k in joint finances which I am liable for ... and I end up penniless (genuninely without any money), with no family or friends (my family disowned me when I left him, I wasn't allowed friends), with no job (he told my manager lies and I got sacked) and the house got repossessed (as he decided that he was not liable for mortgage payments as he didnt' live there anymore.

Fast forward a few years, I have a job and a roof over my head, and food in the cupboard, but I have letters coming in daily from debt collectors, they scare me and I stop opening them. I meet a wonderful man (my now DH) who is great with money - he grew up in a mortgaged house that had bills so his parents taught him everything right.

He found out about my situation and he helped me more than I can possibly thank him for ... he taught me how to manage my finances ... now I'm a bloody whiz at it

My credit report is still a mess (even after the 6 year period) and I feel tainted forever.

I wish I had someone to teach me earlier how to look after my finances, pay bills and budget etc. (I remember touching on it briefly in home economics once - but nothing that stuck)

Apologies for oversharing and rambling

 

[LikeJohnnYoko]

I think your responses are all very interesting.

I wish I'd been taught all of this stuff by my parents, but I have an absent father and a mother who was literally working every hour in order to keep our heads above water; she didn't have time to teach me financial stuff. I left home young and had to learn it all for myself. I made a heck of a lot of mistakes along the way and wish I'd had more advice on it all.

I don't think it's as simple as being able to count, in order to budget. I think that what you need to an extent is to know how much things ought to cost in the first place, how much of your income you should have left, to save, what savings accounts are the best for saving in the current financial climate.

A good example of this is when we have threads on here asking how much your heating/water etc costs.

I do genuinely believe that this kind of home economics should be second nature. Parents do, for a variety of reasons, fail to prepare their children for the outside world in this way. It's something that when I have children, I will be teaching them.

 

[Jayjay027]

My parents are both fantastic parents. I wouldn't trade either of them for all the money in the world. They are simply amazing - but they SUCK when it comes to money. And unfortunately, I learned from them.

We wanted for nothing when we were growing up, always had nice clothes, always had lovely Christmas presents and a holiday every year, mostly abroad.
Both my parents worked, but 4 children, a mortgage and bills soon spent their wages, so they borrowed.

I'm not in the greatest financial situation atm, I owe the bank and the phone company (both of whom I'm just ignoring) but to be honest, I wouldn't have listened at school to someone telling me how to spend my money. Just like I wouldn't listen now.

A lot of it is learned behaviour, but some people are instinctively good with money, and some aren't. And that will always be the case x