Member Article

North East parents want children to learn about money

The majority of parents believe that children need lessons in how to handle money, a poll by a Newcastle financial planning company has found.

Parents and social media followers took part in the survey by Gosforth-based Co-Navigate. They were asked whether learning about money would be useful for youngsters.

A resounding 90% of those polled said they thought that it would be of use and that they would be interested in lessons about money for their children.

As a result of the findings, directors at the company are planning to put together Money Masterclasses to help youngsters get to grips with finance.

Echoing the survey’s findings is a research paper by UK fintech company Paysend, published last week. Its study highlighted the need for the education system to incorporate the concept in the school curriculum.

It also found that three out of five 17- to 18-year-olds in the UK believe financial education should be a core subject in school.

Co-Navigate Director and Mortgage & Protection Adviser, Lyndsey Stephenson, said: “The poll we carried out emphasised the importance of learning about finances at a young age. Parents believe that children would benefit from understanding how to handle money at an early age.

“We believe that learning about finance will allow children to plan better for the future.” Lyndsey added that as a result of the survey’s findings, directors were now looking at Money Masterclasses to help children in the North East. The research by Paysend also uncovered that four out of five teenagers are worried about money.

Jamie Bogle, Director and Financial Planner at Co-Navigate, said that understanding money from a young age is fundamental to preventing bad habits and getting caught in a debt cycle as a young adult.

He added: “Money governs everything we can and can’t do as adults, and children are only taught the basics in secondary school, often alongside other minor subjects such as citizenship. By then, it’s probably too late as they will have subconsciously developed bad habits, more often than not from their parents who in turn didn’t receive any financial education at school.”

“I believe that if people learn about money as young children, it will have a positive impact on their financial behaviour for the rest of their lives.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Media Consultancy .