Money doesn’t grow on trees

This article is taken from our autumn edition of Equinox. You can view the full version here.

How can we prevent the next generation from joining 77% of adults in the UK who feel stressed about money?

One in five adults cannot correctly read a bank statement. In addition to this, 40% have less than £500 in savings.

How have we, as a society, become so bad at managing money?

Only a few decades ago, people were paid in cash on a weekly basis, but now personal finance is becoming increasingly digitised. Rather than tangible piles of notes and coins that could be allocated to different expenditures, we now have credit cards that allow people to spend thousands of pounds they simply don’t have.

Studies have suggested that handing over physical money is quite literally more painful than using your debit or credit card. This appears to be true considering that the average credit card debt per household in March 2019 was over £2,600.

How can we prevent this fate befalling our children?

Two in three teachers say that they feel financial education in the UK is somewhat or entirely ineffective, and two in three also say that their school lacks the skills needed to teach financial education effectively.

As a firm whose purpose is to make people’s lives better, Equilibrium introduced Libby’s Big Aeroplane Adventure in September 2017, a workbook and project which was specially designed by financial and primary education experts and is completely free to schools.

The booklet aims to improve children’s financial literacy and skills such as budgeting and currency conversion. It was created specifically with the key stage two curriculum in mind and has plenty of opportunities for cross-curricular activities.

So far, Libby’s Big Aeroplane Adventure has reached over 2,750 children in over 40 schools and will continue on its mission to educate the nation.

I found it very beneficial and it has really got me thinking about how to expand the children’s understanding of finance. Amanda Wright, teacher at Spalding Primary School

Find out more…

If you know of any primary schools who may benefit from Libby’s Big Aeroplane Adventure, contact Sam Richards at sam.richards@eqllp.co.uk or visit our ‘Educating the nation’ page.