Essentially, we ensure they remain ignorant of personal financial terms, such as APR, emergency tax, county court judgement and IVA until they trip over them most ungraciously during the first few wobbly years of their working lives. Some adults even think it’s proper for their inexperience to be met with financial penalty like some kind of hideous rite of passage.

 

And, often they’re also berated for getting into debt, missing payments or finding themselves teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. ‘They should have known better’, we say.

 

But, how? What did we expect them to do? How are they supposed to properly equip themselves for the cold, cruel world of caveat emptor? Should they have magically assimilated financial literacy, or do we hope pixies whisper about tax rates and retirement provision into their ears as they sleep?

 

It should not be a surprise that so many of our young people are in debt. A YouGov survey carried out in 2008 found that 70 per cent of 18-24 year olds were already well and truly in the red. What should be shocking, however, is that personal finance is still not a compulsory part of our children’s education.

 

The good news is that most people are now shocked by this. A survey carried out by the APPG on financial education for young people found that 94pc of schools now support financial education becoming a compulsory part of the curriculum.

 

Money expert, Martin Lewis, has been specifically instrumental in helping to get this issue to the forefront of the Whitehall agenda. Thanks to his successful petition, it will now be included in the Department for Education’s current review of the national curriculum.  

 

Let’s hope financial education in schools will finally get the attention it deserves.