What I wish I'd known when I was at school

Is today's economic mess the result of yesterday's failures in education? Here's why it's crucial to teach the next generation about money.

This article has already been emailed to readers as a 'Finance in focus' article.

I absolutely hated maths at school. 'Double maths' was a class I used to dread a whole week in advance, and I used to go to the toilets and have a good cry halfway through the lesson.

Why did I hate it so much? Well, for a start I was pretty bad at it. My brain seemed to go into a sort of 'TV static' mode when I was faced with numbers rather than words.

Theory versus practice

I also found maths frustratingly irrelevant. I just couldn't grasp why I had to struggle with so much trigonometry or so many complicated algebraic abstractions, when I had no intention of ever using them again.

Of course, I can now see that many people use maths in their everyday jobs. Accountants, engineers and physicists, for example, couldn't be without it.

And me? Well, I can just about work out the value of a basket of groceries. However, I still think maths lessons alienate many children because they seem so totally disconnected from real life.

I certainly wasn't taught how to handle my personal finances - and neither (judging by the current mess) were many other people. In fact, the most useful lesson I learnt was how to put together a two-person meal for under £5 - when I was seven.

This is obviously a matter for parents as well as teachers. But here are some of the subjects I wish my maths lessons had covered!

Budgeting

The earlier children learn to budget sensibly, the less likely they are to end up in a financial pickle as adults.

We live in a society where spending on credit has become the norm for many people. And as the news is telling us every day - this isn't sustainable in the long run!

Keeping a spending diary is something even young children can do. If they begin to note down everything they spend their pocket money on, they'll have taken their first step towards controlling their own finances.

How to make your money last till payday!, by my colleague Jane Baker, is a great place to start if you want to show older children and teenagers how to budget effectively.

The savings habit

The concept of 'saving for the future' is pretty boring to most under-18s. Again, I think the key is getting them into the savings habit early. Surely the importance of saving could be slotted in amongst all those Venn diagrams and obtuse angles?

For example, you could get younger children to draw all the things they want to have in later life (a house, a car, a dog etc) and then show them how to get those things - starting with a piggybank.

And if you've got older teenagers or twenty-somethings, get them to watch this video podcast on why you need to start saving for a pension as early as possible.

A student loan is NOT free money

I was one of the first generation to get student loans. My friends and I got it into our heads that these loans were 'interest-free' - and that seemed like a pretty good deal to me. In a vague sort of way, I thought I was borrowing £12,000 and (eventually) paying £12,000 back.

In reality, of course, you are charged interest, linked to the rate of inflation. This may not seem like much, but it means your debt is slowly expanding all the time. This article, by my colleague Cliff D'Arcy, explains exactly how the student loan interest rate is calculated.  

In a nutshell, loans (student loans included) should only be taken out if you really need them - not to subsidise your lifestyle!

I think it would be very helpful if all teenagers were taken through the basic principles of economics, inflation and all.

Ask for help!

I once struggled with a maths equation for 40 minutes before asking the teacher to repeat her explanation of how to do it.

Her response was 'just go away and have a proper think about it - it will come to you'. I rarely asked for help after that - and I'm sure my maths suffered as a result!

It's really important children feel confident in questioning financial concepts they don't understand. There's no shame in asking if you don't know what a technical term means, or if the small print on that credit card application seems like gobbledygook.

It's terrifying how many people have been flogged financial products they don't really understand. If you or your children have a question about money, use this question and answer tool to get help from your fellow readers.

A step in the right direction?

The government had finally woken up to the fact that children need to be financially savvy from an early age.

A teaching programme called Economic wellbeing and financial capability is now part of the National Curriculum at key stage 3 (for pupils aged 11-14). Let hope it helps tomorrow's generation sidestep another economic quagmire!

Whatever age you are, make sure you get the best financial products!

More: Helping your adult children | Boomeranging: How to survive it

Comments are not gone forever!

We’ve had to take article comments down temporarily as we set up our new home on lovemoney.com, but new comment tools (and your old comments) will be back soon.