When I sat down with my Financial Planner in 2020, for an annual review on my modest ISA, I would never have thought it would have led to such an important event in my life, a career change.
After grilling my financial planner with a wide range of complex questions, he informed me that we were discussing aspects pertaining to finance, that most of his clients had little knowledge of, relative to the majority of people, as well as some he had come across in the financial world. When he floated the idea that I explore the possibility of becoming a financial planner, my first thought was, I am a teacher and have been teaching for over a decade, I will miss the pupils and the classroom. After a number of weeks of deep soul searching, I concluded, I could combine the two together and teach finance in an educational environment.
Research, conducted by The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and The International Network on Financial Education (INFE), (2020) ‘*’ found that 5.3 million children do not get a meaningful financial education. They went on to report, that 35% of teachers do not believe financial education is a medium or high priority in their school. Similar statements, were echoed by The Young Money Inquiry submission (2021) ‘**’ who claimed that, the ramifications of a lack of primary financial education are dire. They went on to suggest, children leaving school without effective financial education are at much higher risk of financial abuse, fraud and debt from an early age. They further highlighted that, 55,000 children aged 11-16 are problem gamblers and the number of young people being exploited by criminals as ‘money mules’ is increasing. This evidence, is backed up by The Centre for Financial Capability (2021) ‘***’ who’s research found that 9 million people in the U.K, regularly borrow money to buy food or pay for bills. In addition, they found approximately 11.5 million adults have less than £100 savings in their savings account.
When I continued my research and dived deeper into financial education, I found more troubling facts and figures. I was shocked, disturbed and upset, making a promise to myself, that I will do my upmost to try and support as many young people and adults as possible. I had previously planned to focus entirely, on the launch of my financial planning business for the first year and when it became more established, I could afford myself time to visit schools, colleges and universities. However, after exploring the statistics of how mental health and finances are linked, I decided it’s imperative to accelerate my plan. A research project, conducted by The Money and Mental Health Institute (2021) ‘****’ claimed, each year 100,000 people in England attempt suicide, whilst in problem debt and 50% of people in problem debt are suffering with mental health issues.
Armed with the knowledge from becoming a qualified financial planner, along with my experience of working at a wide range of schools, which most recently included a Social, Emotional and Mental Health school, I feel I can combine the three areas where I have experience and knowledge – Finance! Education! and Mental Health! I myself, am a working-class boy, who left school at 16 years of age with no G.C.S. E’s, I am now 34 years of age and have four degrees, as well as a wide range of experience teaching at home and overseas. I often ask myself, how this happened and although it is a combination of reasons, the main reasons are, people helped me, offered me inspiration and gave up their time for me. I am hoping to give this kindness back to the next generation.
I have completed my due diligence on current financial education workshops, realising there are people out there supporting a wide range of individuals already. On the one hand, I recall, when I was working at one school, a major banking institute came in to deliver a day’s workshop. I was amazed by their knowledge and kindness to the pupils, but on the other hand I felt sorry for them, as they often lost the pupils engagement, as they clearly did not have any experience, or knowledge of delivering lessons.
My aim is to teach pupils in the classroom, with highly engaging, activity-based lessons, where I lay the foundations of a number of financial principles, which they can build upon in their future. This includes understanding the importance of long-term saving, interest rates, loans, compound interest rates, risk v reward, financial crimes and scams, just to name a few.
For countless years, Ofsted have continually informed schools and parents of, the importance of getting an outstanding education at a young age, as it builds foundations for future success. This is something the teaching community all agree on. Nevertheless, I would like to play the devil’s advocate here. The new curriculum, which was last update in 2014, only has financial education in the secondary curriculum. Cambridge University (2022) ‘*****’ found that by the age of seven, lasting money habits begin to form. So, from my point of view, why is it not introduced earlier. I clearly cannot speak on the behalf of Ofsted and cannot change the curriculum, but I would like to try to teach as many young primary pupils as possible, about financial education.
As I have already explained, I have recently launched my own business and I would like to teach as many pupils as possible. So, it would not be possible, for me to attend the same education establishment all the time. I have therefore, devised a presentation to staff, where I can show them where they can access a range of resources. In addition, I can answer any questions they have, whilst offering any financial advice, they may require. I am under no illusion, that this will be a quick fix and I am not going to single-handedly, stop the financial education issues and mental health issues this country faces. However, if I can do this and make any benefit for the lives of children and adults alike, even if it is a small number, I am willing to try.
For my last quotation within this article, I would like to recap, what my friend Dave said to me when I floated the idea to him. ‘I have two daughters in school and I was recently speaking to my wife about this, it is alright learning about how many wives Henry VIII, had and how many moons Saturn has, but I want my children to learn life skills, like opening a bank account and what a mortgage is’.
If you would be interested, in me delivering a no obligation financial education workshop, please get in touch. I spent the majority of my teaching career in upper primary, but have taught Early Years, Secondary pupils, SEN pupils, as well as a wide range of international pupils, from different countries. From the research I discussed in this article, I am sure there will be education gaps that need plugging. I can offer workshops ranging from Early Years, to Higher Education.
Email me at karl.long@sjpp.co.uk for more information.
References:
- Cambridge University (2022) Our Money Habits are Largely Set by Seven Years Old. ‘*****’
- The Centre for Financial Stability (2021) The Centre for Financial Capability’s (CFC) submission to the APPG on Financial Resilience’s Call for Evidence. ‘***’
- The Money and Mental Health Institute (2021) Over 100,000 attempt suicide per year in due to problem debt. ‘****’
- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and The International Network on Financial Education (2020) Financial Education in Schools. ‘*’
- The Young Money Inquiry submission (2021) All Party Paramilitary Group on Financial Education for Young People Report. ‘**’
