Is there a lack of financial education in the UK from family and schools?

poseidon1

Below a link to another an intriguing  and arguably  critically  important aspect of the financial literacy debate - the early development of the concepts of profit/ loss, budgeting in business and commerce -

https://www.dezeen.com/2025/10/09/financial-literacy-erin-agdinaoay-opinion/

I would argue that the vast majority of the working population merely see themselves as small cogs in a big machine with zero contribution to make with regard to business profitability, efficiency and cost savings  other than to turn up and put in their hours -  I am referring to the 'that's management's responsibility' mindset .

The architect in the article had an epiphany moment in realising that in the pursuit of his creative profession, perhaps he was part of the problem when a project budget over ran by his not having monetary considerations in mind with his designs.  Ultimately he joined a smaller firm where he was actively trained to take budgetary considerations into account and thoroughly learn the business side of his profession - ie develop his financial literacy journey in a business setting. 

 In my view a good example of how taking responsibility for your own financial/ fiscal literacy  and education can pay dividends personally and in the business you serve.

MEM62

Is there a lack of financial education in the UK from family and schools?

Short answer - yes, absolutely.  

dreaming

Most definitely we need financial education starting from a young age. I posted something similar on another thread recently. For those who say that teaching it in schools wouldn't work as children wouldn't be interested I think it is to do with the manner in which it is presented. I wasn't interested in maths at school (along with other subjects such as history and geography - total yawn time for me), especially algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. It didn't seem to have any relevance to my life and I barely scraped a maths 'O' level pass. However, fast forward several years and I realised that I did use some of these seemingly abstract notions when they were applied to real life, and I actually ended up with a long, successful career in finance. I was lucky in that some of my 'education' started at home before I even started school. I used to love sitting with my mum on a Friday afternoon when she divvied out my dad's wages into one of those tins with sections in - rent/gas and electric (which were both on shilling meters), groceries, etc., etc., It was where I learned to count and budget without it being 'taught' as such, and despite my feeling of not being very good at maths, I was always good at budgetting and have rarely been in debt (except when I was married to a man who was the complete opposite when it came to dealing with cash in spite of having excellent maths grades). Of course, this was back in the 50's and 60's and it was a cash society back then. I'm not so sure it would work as well nowadays with a largely cash-free population - checking credit card statements wouldn't be as much fun for a toddler as counting out pennies was for me. Plus, as many people on here have mentioned, parents often don't feel equipped with the knowledge to help their children as their financial education was lacking. I always included my 2 children in talking about budgets etc., and they had pocket money from quite a young age, and a clothing allowance when they were teens. Now both in their 40's, one is a saver/planner, and one not so much, so I can see that individual personalities play their part too, but at least they were given the grounding of financial education even if it didn't interest them at the time.

BungalowBel

I learned budgeting from my mum.  She never had much money, but I used to watch  her portioning it up into little envelopes marked 'gas' 'electricity' 'rates' etc.

I do very much the same now, but it's with Bank Accounts - holidays, vehicles, household expenses, gardening, savings etc. 

I have taught my son the same.

As a young person at work, I soon realised that it was better to pay into my pension than not (State Pension that is, married women had a choice when I started work in the 1960s).  I joined an Occupational Pension Scheme as soon as I was able, even though I didn't understand the ins and outs of how it all worked.  I knew it was better to have it than not have it.

My son often asks me for advice and both he and my husband call me their financial advisor

enthusiasticsaver

Ideally I think parents should instil financial education in their children as we did ours from a young age.  I appreciate not all parents are savvy but they should make it their business to learn about finance especially if they have kids as it is a life skill along with learning to cook, shop and budget for themselves and know how to inform themselves about financial products they apply for. 

Examples of things we did with our kids from a very young age.  

Saving in a piggy bank and then a building society savings account if they had birthday or christmas money. Saving up for things helps them to learn to appreciate them and seeing savings grow is a good habit to form from a child. 

Managing money like pocket money and later a monthly allowance.  We were strict with ours and if they spent it all in the first week of the month they had nothing spare for the rest of the time to buy things, go out with their friends etc.  We also encouraged saving a percentage each week/month. This helps them learn to budget. 

Before 18 we encouraged them to get holiday or weekend jobs to earn extra money and talked about credit cards and how to manage them. We also taught them about comparison sites for things like car insurance, savings products and credit cards when they were old enough to have one.  We talked about student loans and varying repayment schemes. 

When they got their first mortgage/pension I directed them to articles in Money Mail, Monevator and other easy to understand guides on financial products as well as forums on this site.  They still ask for me advice now but each time they are learning more and I impress on them things change so my financial knowledge may not be completely up to date. 

Dizzycap

Yes, Financial Education along with Home Economics which stopped in the late 80's should be taught in every school. Home Economics included how to balance your home bills; including cooking on a budget etc, mend and make do, making things, sewing etc that's why I'm so frugal because I was one of the fortunate last to have this type of education available to me.

Children these days are led to believe in a throw away society with having the very latest gadgets - If they want them, then they should be made to save for them, I was, and ended up not wanting the junk that I so yurned for, but my savings book grew along with compounded interest   

Newly_retired

It is not just children who need financial education. I know far too many couples where one person handles all the finances and the other shows no interest and leaves it all to their spouse.  In older couples it may the widow who suddenly realises how little she understands.

Exodi

I think some of this stems from the home environment.

As infuriating as I find it (I agreed with Rishi Sunak on this), it is considered funny and trivialised to be bad at Maths.

I suspect a parent who proclaims themselves 'useless with numbers' will invariably create offspring who set down the same path.

Conversely, I love Maths and did very well in at school. There are crossovers in concepts (e.g. learning about exponents unlucks the ability to forecast interest or inflation). However, I was not taught about tax, or pensions, or bills.

I have a funny memory when I moved out, of being surprised that you had to pay for water. It seems comical now to consider I once assumed it was free. Likewise I remember being angered at seeing I'd had tax deducted from my first pay, despite the irony that I'd had a lifetime of taxpayer subsidised schooling, child benefit to my parents, etc and considering the personal allowance, the amount of tax I paid was almost inevitably negligible (if only I could go back to those days!). Nonetheless, I think because I did not expect to have £20 or whatever it was deducted for tax on my first payslip, I felt robbed and it left a bad taste in my mouth.

I suspect the majority of the UK population could not tell you what the tax thresholds are, or what the rates for national insurance are, or what the personal allowance is. Hell, I have a friend that has turned down a pay increase because they believe if you earn over £50,270, you start paying 40% on your entire income so they would be worse off... this is not the first time I've heard this misunderstanding.

I suspect the majority of the UK population could not tell you what type of pension they have, or what it is invested in. The trend seems to be worry about your pension when your 10 minutes from retiring and it's too late, then complain about the state pension not being enough.

I see an incredible amount of misinformation on social media - and I'll be generous and say I believe most of it is due to misunderstanding, and not deliberate riling up. Some examples include the communication that the next state pension increase to effectively the personal allowance will cause many pensioners to start paying tax, leading many to believe that they will be 'worse off' (I guess under the false belief that they'll pay 20% on the entire lot?) or that they are being taxed on the way in and the way out with their pensions, despite pensions receiving tax relief in one form or another on the way in.

Unfortunately, I despair at the average persons understanding of finance. That said, understanding is only half the picture, attitudes is the other half. Most people don't need to be told that a big number next to the APR% of a card or borrowing is bad. Many do it because they want the instant gratification of the thing now.

strawb_shortcake

Exodi said:

I think some of this stems from the home environment.

As infuriating as I find it (I agreed with Rishi Sunak on this), it is considered funny and trivialised to be bad at Maths.

I suspect a parent who proclaims themselves 'useless with numbers' will invariably create offspring who set down the same path.

Conversely, I love Maths and did very well in at school. There are crossovers in concepts (e.g. learning about exponents unlucks the ability to forecast interest or inflation). However, I was not taught about tax, or pensions, or bills.

I have a funny memory when I moved out, of being surprised that you had to pay for water. It seems comical now to consider I once assumed it was free. Likewise I remember being angered at seeing I'd had tax deducted from my first pay, despite the irony that I'd had a lifetime of taxpayer subsidised schooling, child benefit to my parents, etc and considering the personal allowance, the amount of tax I paid was almost inevitably negligible (if only I could go back to those days!). Nonetheless, I think because I did not expect to have £20 or whatever it was deducted for tax on my first payslip, I felt robbed and it left a bad taste in my mouth.

I suspect the majority of the UK population could not tell you what the tax thresholds are, or what the rates for national insurance are, or what the personal allowance is. Hell, I have a friend that has turned down a pay increase because they believe if you earn over £50,270, you start paying 40% on your entire income so they would be worse off... this is not the first time I've heard this misunderstanding.

I suspect the majority of the UK population could not tell you what type of pension they have, or what it is invested in. The trend seems to be worry about your pension when your 10 minutes from retiring and it's too late, then complain about the state pension not being enough.

I see an incredible amount of misinformation on social media - and I'll be generous and say I believe most of it is due to misunderstanding, and not deliberate riling up. Some examples include the communication that the next state pension increase to effectively the personal allowance will cause many pensioners to start paying tax, leading many to believe that they will be 'worse off' (I guess under the false belief that they'll pay 20% on the entire lot?) or that they are being taxed on the way in and the way out with their pensions, despite pensions receiving tax relief in one form or another on the way in.

Unfortunately, I despair at the average persons understanding of finance. That said, understanding is only half the picture, attitudes is the other half. Most people don't need to be told that a big number next to the APR% of a card or borrowing is bad. Many do it because they want the instant gratification of the thing now.

I disagree with children following third parents being bad at Maths. I am that person who really struggles with numbers, I scraped a D at GCSE. 
If asked a maths question my brain just goes fuzzy and I really have to concentrate and get a pen and paper to work it out. 

My Children all got A equivalent at GCSE.

I feel I'm pretty good and can manage my money, I grew up on the mantra if you can't afford it you can't have it. I was a natural Saver from childhood, and feel I have passed this on to my Children 

My eldest went through uni, did not once use his overdraft, and managed his money perfectly. He's now working and puts all his money into pots of what he can spend each month as well as a portion for long term savings and short term savings for annual bills such as insurance.
When he was considering renting a house this year, he phoned me to discuss average bill costs and what he might expect to pay to work out how affordable it would be. He decided it was better to be a lodger instead. 
He's not yet 22, but I'm really proud of his attitude to money management.

Exodi

strawb_shortcake said:

Exodi said:

I think some of this stems from the home environment.

As infuriating as I find it (I agreed with Rishi Sunak on this), it is considered funny and trivialised to be bad at Maths.

I suspect a parent who proclaims themselves 'useless with numbers' will invariably create offspring who set down the same path.

Conversely, I love Maths and did very well in at school. There are crossovers in concepts (e.g. learning about exponents unlucks the ability to forecast interest or inflation). However, I was not taught about tax, or pensions, or bills.

I have a funny memory when I moved out, of being surprised that you had to pay for water. It seems comical now to consider I once assumed it was free. Likewise I remember being angered at seeing I'd had tax deducted from my first pay, despite the irony that I'd had a lifetime of taxpayer subsidised schooling, child benefit to my parents, etc and considering the personal allowance, the amount of tax I paid was almost inevitably negligible (if only I could go back to those days!). Nonetheless, I think because I did not expect to have £20 or whatever it was deducted for tax on my first payslip, I felt robbed and it left a bad taste in my mouth.

I suspect the majority of the UK population could not tell you what the tax thresholds are, or what the rates for national insurance are, or what the personal allowance is. Hell, I have a friend that has turned down a pay increase because they believe if you earn over £50,270, you start paying 40% on your entire income so they would be worse off... this is not the first time I've heard this misunderstanding.

I suspect the majority of the UK population could not tell you what type of pension they have, or what it is invested in. The trend seems to be worry about your pension when your 10 minutes from retiring and it's too late, then complain about the state pension not being enough.

I see an incredible amount of misinformation on social media - and I'll be generous and say I believe most of it is due to misunderstanding, and not deliberate riling up. Some examples include the communication that the next state pension increase to effectively the personal allowance will cause many pensioners to start paying tax, leading many to believe that they will be 'worse off' (I guess under the false belief that they'll pay 20% on the entire lot?) or that they are being taxed on the way in and the way out with their pensions, despite pensions receiving tax relief in one form or another on the way in.

Unfortunately, I despair at the average persons understanding of finance. That said, understanding is only half the picture, attitudes is the other half. Most people don't need to be told that a big number next to the APR% of a card or borrowing is bad. Many do it because they want the instant gratification of the thing now.

I disagree with children following third parents being bad at Maths. I am that person who really struggles with numbers, I scraped a D at GCSE. 
If asked a maths question my brain just goes fuzzy and I really have to concentrate and get a pen and paper to work it out. 

My Children all got A equivalent at GCSE.

I feel I'm pretty good and can manage my money, I grew up on the mantra if you can't afford it you can't have it. I was a natural Saver from childhood, and feel I have passed this on to my Children 

My eldest went through uni, did not once use his overdraft, and managed his money perfectly. He's now working and puts all his money into pots of what he can spend each month as well as a portion for long term savings and short term savings for annual bills such as insurance.
When he was considering renting a house this year, he phoned me to discuss average bill costs and what he might expect to pay to work out how affordable it would be. He decided it was better to be a lodger instead. 
He's not yet 22, but I'm really proud of his attitude to money management.

My apologies, I should not have put such have made such a black and white comment. I've also put the point across quite badly as I intended to mean if a parent is bad with money their child is more likely to be. I didn't mean to equate being bad at Maths automatically meaning someone is bad with money, my apologies if that's how you interpreted my post.

From your post you describe a parent who is good with money having children who are also good with money.

What I'm suggesting is a parent who is bad with money is more likely to have children who are also bad with money. Just like overweight parents tend to end up with overweight children. I know that might put some peoples backs up and to be clear that's not to say it's impossible not to, it's obviously not, my mother was awful with money while I was growing up, and I have vague memories of her going bankrupt, yet I am in a much more fortunate position at the same point in life. Admittedly I was in a payday loan spiral when I turned 18 that lasted for a year or two but my attitude to money has significantly changed over the past couple of decades.

FWIW, your son sounds fantastic - I've just had a little daughter (she's not even 1 yet) but I hope and pray she develops good money habits like your children. 21 years old putting aside money for savings and annual bills is very impressive, you should be very proud.