Should children be taught how to budget at school?

Hapless_2

happymoneysaver79 wrote: »

Wow! Maths has changed dramatically since I did it 12 yars ago! Well if what your saying is right, then there is no need to worry about the lack of education in that department then!!! Yongsters shouldn't be needing this website - look out Martin, your going to be out of a job!!!

Well as the syllabus changes year to year I'm not surprised. This was only 8 years ago as I did it for a hobby.

Well considering in English Language "spelling does not matter" when taking GCSE. (I also did that at college as hobby and walked out as the emphasis was on passing the grade rather than learning grammar and spelling.)
How things change though, some kids leave school these days unable to perform simple tasks, unable to fill in forms, unable to do simple multiplication, let alone work out how to run a bank account.

happymoneysaver79

Poppy9 wrote: »

We did compound interest in school in the 70's. I had forgotten I had learnt it until I started working in a finance office:o I must have been asleep during that one lol!

Ps. I have an ever increasing overdraft limit (currently stands at £1500) that I never asked for and have never used in over 20 years of banking. My parents never bought anything on credit in their whole lives, not even their house (they paid cash for it). They set a good example of if you don't have the money for it, you don't buy it. I've never had a car on tick either. I know I have to live within my means. My parents were not well off and had some difficult financial times, especially when my father who was self employed had a serious accident. They had little in benefits so my mother had to go out to work, cleaning schools before we went to school and working in a factory during school hours. The financial difficulties were not hidden from us but they didn't burden us with it either.

I despair of one of my neices who at 24 has never worked a day in her life. No wonder she is broke and in debt!

I agree with what you say however some poeple often give in to the tempation of easy money and some of us get into debt trying to get a decent education, buy a house which is almost impossible with the prices what they are, furnish it, having to buy a car on the tick because you need it to get to work 30 miles away and haven't got the time to save up because you need it now or the savings to buy one outright and trying to bring up a family with very limited money.
Some people manage to get through life living within their means, planning for every eventuality and to some extent with luck on their side (I am not implying that this is you- by the way) but for many it is not that simple, life can be hard, you don't always know whats around the corner and not everyone has the resourses and family support to get through it, being in debt is not always a choice but for lots of people it is a reality. sorry -rant over.

happymoneysaver79

Hapless wrote: »

Well as the syllabus changes year to year I'm not surprised. This was only 8 years ago as I did it for a hobby.

Well considering in English Language "spelling does not matter" when taking GCSE. (I also did that at college as hobby and walked out as the emphasis was on passing the grade rather than learning grammar and spelling.)
How things change though, some kids leave school these days unable to perform simple tasks, unable to fill in forms, unable to do simple multiplication, let alone work out how to run a bank account.

I do agree with what you say. I suppose a lot comes down to the standard of teaching, the ability of the child and the syllabus for the year. All I am saying is that children should be exposed to as many learning opportunities as possible, you don't have to be good at the subject but you should be given the chance to learn. I would be over the moon to know that in addition to what i teach my children at home, it is being reinforced at school and I srongly beleive that life skills such as cooking and learning about how to manage finances in (plain english) would be very usefull.

glenstan

I taught my daughters to save and if you cannot afford to pay for it do not get it. They would buy christmas pressies for grannies and grandads out of their pocket money , bars of scenty soap , pens etc , these things meant everything to gparents as they knew DD,s had saved for them. At the age of 12 they were given family allowance to budget for clothes and shoes. The stipulation was we would provide school uniforms and school shoes , all other clothing would come from the family allowance budget. The buying off designer clothes came to a standstill within a couple of months of their being in control of their own money. Many of their peers, parents would ask how can you afford to give you family allowance to the kids, easy answer it saved us pounds and taught daughters how to control a budget.

Poppy9

happymoneysaver79 wrote: »

I agree with what you say however some poeple often give in to the tempation of easy money and some of us get into debt trying to get a decent education,

I worked and studied. That is a bit of an alien concept to many now.

happymoneysaver79 wrote:

buy a house which is almost impossible with the prices what they are,

agree prices are silly and I despair for my DD getting on the property ladder if things continue this way. The market will turn though but if you or I could guess when we could make a killing!!

happymoneysaver79 wrote:

furnish it,

secondhand furniture is again an alien concept to many people starting off. The only new items I had in my first home was a bed. Everything else was hand me downs from family

happymoneysaver79 wrote:

having to buy a car on the tick because you need it to get to work 30 miles away and haven't got the time to save up because you need it now

you buy a car within your means. I paid a colleague petrol money for years as I couldn't afford a car. When she wasn't working or sick I had to go on the bus. It wasn't as convenient as driving myself to work but I chose to do it.

happymonesaver79 wrote:

trying to bring up a family with very limited money.

but often the money to live on is limited because we have such high expense essentials. You only need to see some SOA on this board to see that people will not give up BB, Sky, mobiles etc

We can always find an excuse as to why we are overspending or not earning enough (or even working) but the simple truth is that we are greedy. I include myself as I want things and want them now.

happymoneysaver79 wrote:

Some people manage to get through life living within their means, planning for every eventuality and to some extent with luck on their side

it's not luck it's hard work living within your means. Luck is wining at bingo. Ultimately you have a choice. Credit is easily available but sometimes you have to exercise restraint.

happymoneysaver79 wrote:

but for many it is not that simple, life can be hard, you don't always know whats around the corner and not everyone has the resourses

Life is hard and sh*t happens to us all. My parents didn't expect my father to have an accident. They didn't have insurance to cover it in case. They had to feed their family though and pay the rent. The only option was for my mother to work at two jobs while still being there for the 4 of us before and after school and looking after my father who was in a full leg cast for almost a year.

happymoneysaver79 wrote:

being in debt is not always a choice but for lots of people it is a reality. sorry -rant over.

being in debt is a choice for most people and until they face upto that they will never get out of debt. People on MSE usually declare "proud to be dealing with their debt" and they should be proud because they have faced upto reality and are trying to change and live within their means but still we have youngsters going off to university, they don't even consider working, they live off loans and parents, complain when they leave uni in debt but ignore it, get a job, buy a brand new car and then complain about having to pay back their student loans. They have a 1001 reasons why they need the car, the IPOD, the mobile etc.

I'm not getting at you but more one of my sisters. She lives well beyond her means with her big plasma telly, convertible car etc and in the past has had the bailiffs at the door. She just couldn't see that it was her fault she blamed her and her OH ill health (now disability) whereas in reality she was choosing to over spend. Now one of her children is living the same life and taking no responsibilty. I had to explain to my DD why we weren't as rich as Auntie and Uncle when both me and OH work and they don't!!

happymoneysaver79

Unfortunatly we had to purchse the car using finance, we had no savings, OH found a job 30 miles away, it is a warehouse in the middle of nowhere - no decent train links, no possibility of a car share, not on a bus route we needed a safe car and we didn't want a £300 death trap of a car because we have kids so we went for a costlier option.

I worked all hours when I was at college.

All of our furniture is second hand.

I dont have a mobile phone

I dont have sky or similar

The house is the biggest problem.

!!!! does happen to everyone but some have more !!!! than others!!!

Racklen

my parents taught me well enough and any of my money problems are in no way shape or form any of their fault its was my choices as an adult and a mistake ive learnt from, my point was just that some life skills should be taught in school just some basics to aid those who dont get taught these things at home and for those who do they still will learn something. no one knows 100% what tomorrow holds.

Poppy9

happymoneysaver79 wrote: »

Unfortunatly we had to purchse the car using finance, we had no savings, OH found a job 30 miles away, it is a warehouse in the middle of nowhere - no decent train links, no possibility of a car share, not on a bus route we needed a safe car and we didn't want a £300 death trap of a car because we have kids so we went for a costlier option.

but you had a choice over how much costlier it was. You could get a safe car for £2k or you could spend £20k. It's a choice. When you accept it's a choice then you can control your spending and manage debt. Debt isn't always bad but you should treat it with respect.

happymoneysaver79 wrote:

!!!! does happen to everyone but some have more !!!! than others!!!

very few people have gifted lives. I believe the sh*t is shared around equally but it's in different forms.

barrymung

Yes. Kids should be taught about budgeting.

I'd go one further. With the likes of ebay it seems everyone is 'trading' or running a small home based business. Schools need to educate pupils in running such ventures and the need to make a profit etc.

barrymung

Poppy9 wrote: »

Ps. I have an ever increasing overdraft limit (currently stands at £1500) that I never asked for and have never used in over 20 years of banking.

My MBNA card has an ever increasing limit too, think it's currently up to around £18k! :eek:

I don't know why they keep increasing it...I'd have less than NO CHANCE of paying it back if I ever spent that much.

(None of the other cards I have ever had have had limits anywhere near that. Most have been in the £2k to £4 ballpark, from memory)

Anyone know why banks do it?