Financial Education

strawb_shortcake

I think my parents taught me and my siblings the same about money management but we all have different outlooks, and most of it reflects how we were with our pocket money.

Brother: spent it all on day 1

Sister: spread spend out over a week but would spend it all and carry nothing over.

Me: I only spent when I needed it or wanted something,  but always had money to fall back on.

As adults we are now very much the same,  my parents were always a case of if you wanted something you saved for it - I am the only one with this attitude.  They never had a credit  card for years, and probably not until we were all adults. 
They have good levels of savings but have never invested, I think they may have once and got their fingers burnt so it put them off.

I do think there is a need for far greater education but not sure who is best placed to deliver it. But it'll be those that need the education most that won't listen or learn

My children are all savers, I've started introducing the concept of investing and they have the basics of managing a budget though the 12 year old  is work in progress...

MallyGirl

Same here.
My brother always spent his pocket money on day 1, always ate all his Easter eggs on day 1, etc.
I saved my pocket money/birthday money for things I wanted/needed and made my eggs last for days/weeks to the point that he used to complain that I must have got more than him.
Roll on to today (he is over 50) and he had no pension till the recent requirement for auto enrolment forced it on him - he is not stupid enough to opt out but had never started his own when there wasn't a company scheme. He has said to our Mum that her house is his pension which I think is rude and also it won't be enough as any inheritance from them as a couple will be shared with our step brother too.

My daughter had a bank account with debit card from 11 and her pocket money went in there. At 14 or 15 she got a clothes allowance and after that I only bought school uniform and proper shoes. At 18 she got access to money that I and my Mum had saved for her and she has only touched that once for a uni ski holiday. She has happily put some of it in a LISA.  She understands how credit cards work and has a couple of bank accounts for different purposes - Starling was better for her foreign travel. I know she is a careful young lady so she won't blow it all - we call it her opportunity money.

MX5huggy

jim8888 said:

A childhood memory for me is being taken to the Post Office on a Saturday morning by my mum to pay into a National Savings account. You were given a wee blue book that was stamped and signed with every deposit. I think that's where the importance of saving money was distilled into me - I didn't realise why it was important at the time, but the ceremony and certificate made it seem so. I didn't learn about compounding and investing until I was about 30 and felt a bit cheated that nobody had explained it to me before then in terms that might have made it seem important too!

I have the same memory, but I had the Grey book as well the grey book was magic you put money in it then sent it off to Glasgow every few years and they added money to it for what appeared to be no reason. They did this with the blue book as well but that had less money and lower interest rates. 

It’s difficult to get my son excited about 21p interest a month on his leading interest rate paying HSBC account. 

LV_426

MallyGirl said:

He has said to our Mum that her house is his pension which I think is rude and also it won't be enough as any inheritance from them as a couple will be shared with our step brother too.

And that's pretty unwise, because as we all know here, the prevailing advice is never rely on inheritance or property to form your pension income. Who knows, your Mum's house may be needed to cover care costs.

Silvertabby

I don't know where I got my financial nous from, but it certainly wasn't from my parents or school!

Mum and dad lived from weekly pay packet to weekly pay packet, and managed their finances by means of a row of little tin savings jars - one for rates, one for water, etc etc.  Life savings were for one thing and one thing only - funeral expenses.  They never did understand the difference between 'cost' and 'value'.  I swear if something as essential as toilet rolls were £1 for 2 rolls or £2 for 10 rolls they would buy the 2 rolls and congratulate themselves on saving £1.

As children, my sister would spend all of her pocket money (such as it was) as soon as she got it.  I would try to save mine, but once she found out that I still had some money she would kick off until mum made me 'share' it with her just to shut her up.

This 'money can't be allowed to burn a hole in my pocket' attitude persisted into adulthood, and she was on nothing but ill health benefits/means tested State benefits when she died. 

MallyGirl

LV_426 said:

MallyGirl said:

He has said to our Mum that her house is his pension which I think is rude and also it won't be enough as any inheritance from them as a couple will be shared with our step brother too.

And that's pretty unwise, because as we all know here, the prevailing advice is never rely on inheritance or property to form your pension income. Who knows, your Mum's house may be needed to cover care costs.

Absolutely. We do not discuss money - not after the time he was pleading poverty while watching Sky sports on his mega entertainment system.

cfw1994

Silvertabby said:

I don't know where I got my financial nous from, but it certainly wasn't from my parents or school!

Mum and dad lived from weekly pay packet to weekly pay packet, and managed their finances by means of a row of little tin savings jars - one for rates, one for water, etc etc.  Life savings were for one thing and one thing only - funeral expenses.  They never did understand the difference between 'cost' and 'value'.  I swear if something as essential as toilet rolls were £1 for 2 rolls or £2 for 10 rolls they would buy the 2 rolls and congratulate themselves on saving £1.

As children, my sister would spend all of her pocket money (such as it was) as soon as she got it.  I would try to save mine, but once she found out that I still had some money she would kick off until mum made me 'share' it with her just to shut her up.

This 'money can't be allowed to burn a hole in my pocket' attitude persisted into adulthood, and she was on nothing but ill health benefits/means tested State benefits when she died. 

Sad to read that.   

Must admit, my mum always told me money burned a hole in my pocket.   
I vividly remember working an early Saturday job - £3 for the work at a holiday camp - then spending it all in the arcade (& snacks/drinks).   
Got home, and I still remember the hollow feeling that I had worked for nothing.    That gave me a salutary lesson in keeping some back though: never happened again (I think the next week I allowed myself to spend 50p from the wages).

Bee9876

I have seen the MSE financial educational resource that is available for free - but it is aimed at 14 years +. Does anyone know of a resource available for primary aged children? Specifically age ten and above? Something that could be used for homeschooling ideally.