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Not everyone likes to discuss their personal finances, but could this problem be down to the lack of understanding of finance across the UK? According to the S&P Global Financial Literacy Survey, only 1 in 3 adults are financially literate worldwide. With stats like this in circulation, here at Fiducia we are planning to help improve the numbers by re-launching our Schools Initiative programme.

If you do not think financial literacy is a problem in the UK, here are some further stats to think about:

  • 88% of adults don’t feel confident in their own financial literacy with more women (91%) acknowledging their lack of confidence
  • 45% of people say dealing with their finances has a negative impact on their health
  • The top five cities and the percentage of residents admitting financial stress are; London 55%, Belfast 44%, Plymouth 43%, Bristol 42%, Glasgow 42%
  • 91% of people say they lack the knowhow where investments are concerned
  • 90% of adults feel they know little about retirement
  • 88% know little about ISA’s
  • 83% are not ‘clued up’ about savings

Whilst finance isn’t fun for everyone, there are some pretty fun facts available which can engage anyone with finance, specifically children too, these include ‘if you started with £0.01 and doubled your money every day, it would take 27 days to become a millionaire’. Trying to engage the UK’s next generation with some understanding of their future personal finances can only help improve the future UK stats on financial literacy.

On Tuesday the 16th November, Fiducia Co-Owner, Director and Chartered Financial Adviser Susie Laws visited the Year 13 students of Chelmsford County High School for Girls to deliver the company’s first school session since the COVID lockdowns. Delivering a talk about personal finance covering mortgages and how they work, how to save for a house, how to save money in a tax efficient way and how to become a millionaire was well received and the children had several questions as they listened intently to understand personal finance better. Talking about the successful visit Susie said:

“We teach our young people how to work out the area of a triangle but not what a mortgage is, or how to save for a deposit for their first house, or how to save for their retirement! To me this makes no sense, so teachers, please feel free to reach out. My team at Fiducia Wealth Management Limited would be happy to come in and talk to your students about these topics.”

With a view of inspiring children to better understand the world of finance, how they can manage their money better to achieve their goals, as well as thinking about the finance industry as a possible career path, this initiative is something the whole team at Fiducia are on board with.

With more school visits planned in 2022 (restrictions dependant) the team at Fiducia are looking forward to providing more educational sessions to the youth of today.

If you would like your high school child to understand more about personal finance, please do reach out to our team on 01206 321045 or send us an email to [email protected] , we would be more than happy to speak to their school and discuss a visit.