How much should education prepare people for personal finance in adult life?

Former_MSE_Andrea

The Education Committee has launched an inquiry into the purpose of education with questions in several areas and it's asking for your feedback. You can read full info on it on the Parliament Blog.

Whether you're a parent. student, employer including from the teaching profession, what it would like to know from MSE users is...

How much should education prepare people for adult life in personal finance terms?

Please do give your feedback. This is your opportunity to feed into the work going on in Parliament.

Thank you in advance!

burlington6

Judging some of the posters on MSE, it's long overdue

onomatopoeia99

I'd suggest there's a case for:

What a bank account is and basic operation thereof
Types of debt and their relative merits and disadvantages for particular circumstances and purchases.
Credit scoring and its importance.

A handful of 40 minute lessons should cover that, can be done in the 6th form as the timetable usually has space for extra things.

nwc389

I am a retired bank worker and going on experiences I have had with the customers I would say
Understanding how a bank account works
The difference between direct debits and standing orders
Understanding the costs of debt and credit
Basic budgeting and financial management

It really does need to be taught in schools , the same as simple cookery . We've lost these skills .

heuchera

I think it should be on the curriculum. Having said that the teachers would probably also find it useful as they're likely to be paying back their student loan debts.

zagfles

Financial education could be incorporated into the maths syllabus easily enough - that would solve two problems, as well as the financial education, kids would get to understand the point of things like percentages, algebra etc.

Instead of meaningless equations to solve, give them real world scenarios where they can apply the algebra they've learnt. Such as working out what gross earnings someone would need to get take home pay of a certain amount, or working out the threshold for tax credits eligibility, or working out what the best way to get foreign currency is, or working out which loan to pay off first.

These are all applications of maths which I've used to answer questions on MSE from grown adults who clearly haven't got a clue how to use basic maths to answer the questions themselves.

Alikay

It makes sense to show maths being used in real life scenarios, so teaching about compound interest on accounts, foreign exchange, discount percentages, calculating car running costs etc would make interesting examples.

I thought this was taught though? There was certainly some money management in my Maths GCSE when I did it 20 years ago, even though it wasn't included when I did O' Level in 1977.

onomatopoeia99

zagfles wrote: »

These are all applications of maths which I've used to answer questions on MSE from grown adults who clearly haven't got a clue how to use basic maths to answer the questions themselves.

My experience is that plenty of people on forums are "too cool for school" and forcefully reject any attempt to educate them .

Newlyboughthouse

Not sure what good it would do. I think it's just common sense. I never got an education on it but I'm good with money because I have common sense.

I have friends however who just don't care e.g. being skint yet driving short distances, using fuel, when they could easily walk. Things like that.

You either have financial sense or you don't IMO.

zagfles

Alikay wrote: »

It makes sense to show maths being used in real life scenarios, so teaching about compound interest on accounts, foreign exchange, discount percentages, calculating car running costs etc would make interesting examples.

I thought this was taught though? There was certainly some money management in my Maths GCSE when I did it 20 years ago, even though it wasn't included when I did O' Level in 1977.

I think it is to a very limited extent. But IME there are very few people who understand how their tax & NI are calculated, or how their credit card interest is worked out, or why paying a 3% bank charge to get foreign currency can be better value than changing cash "commission free".

These sorts of things could make maths more relevant to people and educate them financially at the same time.

zagfles

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

My experience is that plenty of people on forums are "too cool for school" and forcefully reject any attempt to educate them .

Mostly they're just lazy and want their question answering instead of learning how to work it out themselves. Most worrying was someone who appeared to be some sort of financial professional (accountant or financial adviser) who didn't seem to have a clue how to do a bit of simple algebra :eek: