19 October 2018
We’ve all had a good education and learned about everything from finger painting to Fibonacci numbers. But how many of us were educated about money; the importance of budgeting and saving for a rainy day; how bank accounts and debt works; and whether it makes sense to save for a pension or not?
Our brief research to date indicates a shockingly low level of financial literacy in the general population, and it doesn’t look like this will get better soon: regarding improving financial literacy, the FSA stated in 2003 that “Never has the need been so great or so urgent”. Yet many children will go through school without an hour spent studying financial literacy. Furthermore, efforts to improve financial literacy at older ages are piecemeal at best.
We accept that we will not bring the general level of financial literacy to a point where the public can understand many financial products without support and advice, but surely we can raise awareness of basic financial literacy principles, including surely the most important: to know what you don’t know and seek support and advice before undertaking major or one-off financial decisions. We aim to come up with some key principles for financial literacy and will also consider methods and tools to allow the public to access much-needed support and advice.
Chris Barnard,
Chair: IFoA Financial Literacy Working Party
Please visit our website to find out more about the Financial Literacy Working Party and the work undertaken by other working parties.