Tell us your experiences of managing household income, savings and debt

dwtmahdc

Possibly a similar sentiment to many posted before.

Education around financial independence can't be reliant on parents or other family members, because many of them have little understanding in the first place. I work for a company where many people don't understand that, right now, 1.7% pay rise still means we're effectively worse off than last year.

We're all savvy here (in the main) because we've decided to be proactive about it. But we're in the vast minority (if that's even possible).

The government needs to look hard at the current curriculum and provide some basic, but mandatory, financial education to those 14+. Possibly things like...

-Mortgages and how they work
-Interest, inflation and basic economics
-Credit ratings
-Saving strategies
-Basic understanding of stock markets and indexes.

The government who does this will be able to claim they were the government who laid the foundations of a Britain that's a lot more financially robust.

tgroom57

I miss the good old days, when I could walk into a bank and pick up a booklet on borrowing (loan) - setting out the different rates, terms (months) and how much each of these options would cost me. I could spend all weekend doing sums at home to see which would better suit my budget. The only part the bank played was to say yes or no.

Now, the bank has all the cards. I have to guage in advance what to borrow - with no notion of the rate they'll charge or the monthly cost. I have less time to decide, and who these days says " I'll go home and think about that" ? The borrower ends up in the position of having to say yes or no.