MSE News: Personal finance education to be made compulsory

Former_MSE_Guy
Former_MSE_Guy Posts: 1,650 Forumite
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in Student MoneySaving
This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Personal finance is set to become an obligatory part of the National Curriculum within two years ..."

Read the full story:
Personal finance education to be made compulsory

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Comments

  • robin_banks
    robin_banks Posts: 15,778 Forumite
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    Judging by some of the threads on here plenty of those at University could do with this.
    "An arrogant and self-righteous Guardian reading tvv@t".

    !!!!!! is all that about?
  • chris_m
    chris_m Posts: 8,250 Forumite
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    robin_banks wrote: »
    Judging by some of the threads on here plenty of those at University could do with this.

    Well, you've got to start somewhere - those who get the first Personal Finance tuition will likely be at university sometime later anyway.

    Sounds like a darned good idea to me.
  • A_fiend_for_life
    A_fiend_for_life Posts: 1,643 Forumite
    I'd have thought it would be in the interests of universities to cover this in freshers week to reduce the number of students lost because of money worries.

    Most universities provide an IT introduction during the first couple of weeks so tuition on spreadsheets could quite reasonably be tailored to personal finance.
  • CLAPTON
    CLAPTON Posts: 41,865 Forumite
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    The first lesson needs to be

    -save for things you want (except mortgage and genuine investment ) and only then spend

    a somewhat difficult message to give to students who have just committed to about 20k worth of student debt

    -it would also help if the student loan system was changed so students got (say) 9 smaller monthly payments rather than 3 large ones.
  • cw18
    cw18 Posts: 8,618 Forumite
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    And about time too :T
    CLAPTON wrote: »
    -it would also help if the student loan system was changed so students got (say) 9 smaller monthly payments rather than 3 large ones.

    I'll start this comment by admitting I've not been in this position myself (and my elder two didn't go to Uni, with my youngest looking at starting next academic year), so don't have any first hand experience and my response is purely based on conversations with friends who have......

    It seems there is a huge expense on books etc. in the first month or two, so perhaps it would need to be split with a larger payment at the start of the year which is followed by a smaller payment each month :confused:

    Other than that, I do think this would be a brilliant idea. But I doubt it would ever happen due to all the additional administration costs :o
    Cheryl
  • Absinthe_Fairy
    Absinthe_Fairy Posts: 635 Forumite
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    CLAPTON wrote: »
    The first lesson needs to be

    -save for things you want (except mortgage and genuine investment ) and only then spend

    a somewhat difficult message to give to students who have just committed to about 20k worth of student debt

    -it would also help if the student loan system was changed so students got (say) 9 smaller monthly payments rather than 3 large ones.

    That's a good idea in one sense - but students in halls of residence have to pay accommodation fees in three lump sums (normally) - so need 3 large chunks of money in order to do this.
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  • Oldernotwiser
    Oldernotwiser Posts: 37,425 Forumite
    Grants always used to pay a larger payment first(for books) then averaged with a smaller payment third because the summer holiday didn't need to be covered.
  • A_Doonhamer
    A_Doonhamer Posts: 109 Forumite
    I just find it all a bit depressing so many people don't have a parent or parents interested enough, or capable to raise teenagers who are able to live using a basic budget.

    In the days of easy credit is it simply a lost skill for many?
  • melancholly
    melancholly Posts: 7,457 Forumite
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    cw18 wrote: »

    It seems there is a huge expense on books etc. in the first month or two, so perhaps it would need to be split with a larger payment at the start of the year which is followed by a smaller payment each month :confused:

    what you often find in reality, is that most of the books don't 'need' to be bought. it can be nice to have them, but it isn't critical. it may require sitting in the reference section of the library a lot to use them and some unis have better library services than others, but don't get trapped into thinking that everything must be bought! at the very least, wait until a few weeks in to see which book is preferred by lecturer and/or student!

    i think a lot of student could save a lot of money by weighing up the wants versus needs equation a little more closely! (i know i have over £150 of books that i barely used!)
    :happyhear
  • Oldernotwiser
    Oldernotwiser Posts: 37,425 Forumite
    melancholly wrote: »
    /or student!

    i think a lot of student could save a lot of money by weighing up the wants versus needs equation a little more closely! (i know i have over £150 of books that i barely used!)

    You could say this also for such things as running a car and buying clothes.
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