Financial lessons ‘must be learnt in schools’

If British people are to avoid bankruptcy or out of control credit card debt during adulthood financial education is essential, Ben Yearsley, investment manager at Hargreaves Lansdown, has suggested.

Mr Hargreaves’ comments came in response to a recent study from the Personal Finance Education Group (pfeg), which showed that one out of every 20 school-age children in the UK are not aware that credit card debt needs to be paid back.

“Simple things like compound interest, something as simple as that should really be drummed into them [school children] from an early age,” said Mr Hargreaves.

“It [financial educational] should be made a compulsory subject and kids should be taught about how credit cards work, where to get borrowing from, what the impact of getting into debt means in terms of mortgages etc.”

Operating as an educational charity, pfeg aims to encourage secondary schools across the UK to improve the level of financial understanding among their pupils in the interests of the future of British society.