Debt management do you think it should start at school

ZTD

Ames wrote: »

I left school in 1997. We had one less in PSE which was how to write a cheque,

I never got that...

Ames wrote: »

and the advice that debt's bad and shares are good.

Well that's not true either. Both have their advantages and pitfalls. I think that's half the problem. It's not a black and white thing, it's a shade of grey "you have to balance the pros and cons" thing.

Schools are no good at delivering that kind of thing.

MrsTinks

carkeyz wrote: »

I left school in 2006 and have never been taught much about finances. I think thinks like APR's debt management, how to avoid debt and lessons explaining what different types of mortgages are would be the most beneficial thing.
In PSE all we had was debates on things like abortion, Ku Klux Klan and euthanasia which although it was good to learn about these things 5 years at secondary school shouldn't have consisted of this surely?

PS I re-read that for spelling mistakes 3 times!

Ok but only because of your last sentence
"I think things like APR's debt management"
However I shall refrain from picking on the various gramatical errors in the post (or in 99% of all posts for that matter).
I would just like to say any errors in my own posts could be down to either the fact English is my 3rd language, I am mildly dyslexic and the fact I type slower than I think my sentences and so I tend to often fumble or just mis-key.

ANYWAY - Back to the topic in hand - Should it be taught? Yes definitely, but how? What exactly would you teach and when? I agree that not only should home cooking be taught but home economics should too. Is the responcibility down to either just the parents or the schooling system? Certainly not - it should in my view be a combination! My parents gave me control of a fairly generous amount of pocket money which was supposed to cover clothes, treats, school dinners etc - unfortunately I didn't learn and spent it on fun stuff only and then I'd still get clothes from my mum... Obviously I didn't learn
Granted I'm not in "bad" debt in so far as I have "affordable" debt, but I would certainly have much rather had some harsher lessons when I was younger and be in a lot less debt now!

Then on the other hand I think a lot of people will happily use the fact that they never got much education on how to manage their finances to avoid taking respocibility for the debt they HAVE ended up in... And if there is one thing that annoys me it's people not taking responcibility for their situation

Lottebear

I think Money management should be tackled as subject with young people, firstly what credit cards are how to make an informed choice and also the
emotional side of money, at the end of the day many of us debt are good at Maths.

Just think we send young people off to Uni with no life skills and they are in debt from 18.

fizz26

ryandj wrote: »

Well done! Are you a doctor?

No just an holistic therapist But we had to cover medicine could be if i did the other 5 or 6 years

Aspiring

Just imagine, if every person who uses MSE taught their child about money

I learned:

a) money sense from my parents
b) arithmatic at school
c) I learned about interest etc from reading the terms and conditions

a+b = c
a+b+c = informed choices

I've also learned that just because you are taught something doesn't mean you'll use it and won't make your own mistakes.

How many years ago since the last recession, a real live learning curve; how many people learned from that life experience? The CAB was inundated with people trying to sort out their finances at that time and other programmes pointing out that credit is just another word for debt. How would teaching it in schools be any more persuasive? The old adage, 'you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink' springs to mind.

Schools teach us how to read, arithmatic and maths. Use those skills. Read the T&C's, do the arithmatic. Most often, it's because people can't be bothered to do that beforehand, or have an over optimistic attitude towards repayments. Add to that mix that often, people take far more notice of celebrities than politics or what the latest gadget is instead of the economy.

Teaching debt-management is teaching someone how to close the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Teaching money management at school wouldn't be sufficient on it's own because other factors outside of an individual's control can affect their income and their potential expenditure.

If only it really were as simple, but it's more complex than that.

Aspiring

MrsTine wrote: »

-

Then on the other hand I think a lot of people will happily use the fact that they never got much education on how to manage their finances to avoid taking respocibility for the debt they HAVE ended up in... And if there is one thing that annoys me it's people not taking responcibility for their situation

To a point, I agree with you about some not taking responsibility. But, equally, they have been enticed and (to a degree) brainwashed by the number of adverts (TV, papers and magazines) that have promoted cheap loans, easy credit, loans even if you have CCJ's etc., which almost gave them permission to abdicate responsibility. I did say almost

And, let's be fair, our Government isn't setting a particularly good example - banks in strife and the Government's answer is to borrow more to bail the banks out, so the banks can lend more money, so people can spend more from bank/credit loans. It would be laughable if it wasn't such a harsh reality.

ryandj

carkeyz wrote: »

PS I re-read that for spelling mistakes 3 times!

Alright, I get the point! I will stop being such a smart a$$!

ryandj

Aspiring wrote: »

Just imagine, if every person who uses MSE taught their child about money

I learned:

a) money sense from my parents
b) arithmatic at school
c) I learned about interest etc from reading the terms and conditions

a+b = c
a+b+c = informed choices

I've also learned that just because you are taught something doesn't mean you'll use it and won't make your own mistakes.

How many years ago since the last recession, a real live learning curve; how many people learned from that life experience? The CAB was inundated with people trying to sort out their finances at that time and other programmes pointing out that credit is just another word for debt. How would teaching it in schools be any more persuasive? The old adage, 'you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink' springs to mind.

Schools teach us how to read, arithmatic and maths. Use those skills. Read the T&C's, do the arithmatic. Most often, it's because people can't be bothered to do that beforehand, or have an over optimistic attitude towards repayments. Add to that mix that often, people take far more notice of celebrities than politics or what the latest gadget is instead of the economy.

Teaching debt-management is teaching someone how to close the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Teaching money management at school wouldn't be sufficient on it's own because other factors outside of an individual's control can affect their income and their potential expenditure.

If only it really were as simple, but it's more complex than that.

That is what i was kind of trying to get at - you are taught the tools at school - algebra, maths, English - but, for whatever reason, some people do not take the step to apply these tools to real life situations.

PixiePie

One of the problems with teaching things to pupils in school is that if it isn't specifically relevant to them at that time then a percentage are going to switch off - I for the life of me can't remember having a single lesson in finance, budgeting etc from when I was at school but probably did - I didn't really take it in because it wasn't relevant to my life at the time (and I was a bit of a swot at school as well, so if I don't recall it, goodness only know who did!).

Therefore, whilst it's great we teach children about finance etc nowadays in schools (I'm a teacher, currently teaching 7-9 year olds and am doing a little bit with them in a few weeks for eg), for some at the very least it will go in one ear and out the other. The best way, imho, to teach finances to do it - so it would be far more beneficial to have money lessons (or more lessons) upon reaching 16/18 when it is more relevant and doing it in a practical format - something along the lines of you can't have a bank account until you pass the two week money course, or have the first two weeks of your first job learning about how to spend your wages or something (which is just off the top of my head so sounds ever so patronising and is full of holes, but you get the general idea - I'm not paid tens of thousands by the Gov to come up with these schemes).

But it certainly shouldn't turn into a 'look, the schools haven't taught it, so it's all the teachers' fault' as a lot of things turn into - Parents should teach their children about it, with school there to reinforce this learning and to catch those that slip through the cracks of having parents that just don't give a fig.