Teach kids about finance to keep down future debt

Sixty five percent of people believe more advice on debt needs to be offered in schools

Posted by Hannah Oakman | October 22, 2015 | Law, finance, HR

• #finance
• #debt-management
• #vouchercodes

The UK is currently seeing record numbers of people with high levels of personal debt, such as loans, credit cards and personal finance. As the amount owed by households tops £173bn, an online voucher code website looked into where people believe debt management advice needs to be taught.

Investigating personal debt and money management in the UK, the team at www.myvouchercodes.co.uk polled 2,864 UK adults aged over 18 as part of their study.

They asked: “Do you believe young adults receive adequate education on debt management in schools?” Respondents could choose from 4 options, to which the overall majority – 65% chose ‘No, I think schools should offer more’.

The results showed that only 9% of those surveyed thought it was the responsibility of lenders to educate young adults on debt management, closely followed by parents. However only 10% of those surveyed felt that schools adequately covered the topic.

Worryingly, 35% of students surveyed did not receive any advice on debt management – speaking to students on this subject My Voucher Codes found that many felt they were unprepared to deal with lenders, especially when they turn 18 and will be inundated with offers of credit cards and loans.

Speaking about the results from the study, Mark Pearson, founder of MyVoucherCodes said: “Our research shows, many people believe that education on debt management needs to be covered in schools, not just adults in the UK, but students themselves are also calling for this. And our feedback shows, currently there is not enough education and advice available in schools at the moment. I believe this is something that needs to be tackled now, be for it gets worse.”