Yesterday I went upstairs to tuck my eldest daughter into Bed.  She was busy drawing and writing in her notepad and I asked what she was doing.  “Well Daddy”  Charlotte said “this week is My Money Week at my school and I am designing a new bank name and Logo”

She came up with some interesting names and logos….although I wasn’t sure about the National Alien Bank, however as she is a huge Dr Who fan I should have expected it!  However after taking a look at what she was doing I came downstairs and had to admit to myself that I didn’t know that it was “My Money Week” in Schools all over the Britain, did you?

My Money Week is run by the PFEG and is designed to bring money management to life in every school in the UK.  I’m believe it’s incredibly important to provide financial education to children from a young age to ensure they are as prepared as possible for their entry into the ‘real world’ and PFEG provides some incredibly useful resources designed for educators so that they can help young people prepare for these challenges.

I also believe that financial education should be part of the core curriculum.  For one simple reason….it’s knowledge that each and every young person could use each and every day when they are older.  Now, I love History and Science but I don’t get consistently asked who the third wife of Henry the 8th was, or what a Quark is, but I do use the skills and knowledge I have as a financial services professional every day, not only for my clients but also using these techniques to ensure my families short term and long term financial situation is as healthy as it can be.

Surely the knowledge and skills derived from a practical understanding of money could add more value to more young people than some other less practical educational endeavours.  To be clear I’m not including science and history as less practical but there are academic subjects which in my opinion should be way down the pecking order than financial education.

Also, by teaching young people how to manage their money allows in my opinion allows young people to learn how to practically apply knowledge in other parts of the curriculum, especially the core syllabus areas of English and Maths.  However an interesting point I picked up from reading the PFEG website is that Government funding for ‘my money week’ stopped in 2010 and the project is now being funded from the charities reserves as opposed to direct government investment.  Whilst it’s great that this project can continue by the PFEG using the Charities reserves.  I don’t believe that the should have the Government cut the funding on such an important project.

I appreciate the fact that the budgets are being cut across a range of government funded services, but I firmly believe that for the future prosperity of the next generation (or two) financial education is an area which should be prioritised and not seen as a non priority.  Surely as we move towards a more consumerist buy now pay later culture, the importance of financial education is more prominent today as it ever was.

As ever, I’m interested in your thoughts…..