Wednesday, 10 July 2013 10:50
Financial education will help prevent savings crisis says Financial Planner
IFP Accredited Financial Planning Firm Adrian Smith & Partners believes financial education will be vital to prevent a future savings crisis.
It was confirmed earlier this week that financial education will be compulsory for secondary-school children from September 2014.
Director Ivan Hutchings CFPCM said: "The days of receiving good, sound advice from your local bank manager or building society are being phased out; increased regulation and pressure on the banking sector means a lot of people are unsure where to go to get advice.
"We need to ensure we are doing everything we can to equip our younger generations with the knowledge needed to provide for their future. The country is already facing a savings crisis and we cannot afford to let this problem grow worse."
Mr Hutchings said the next issue would be to decide who is suitable to teach the classes and provide the materials and suggested banks should get involved.
"The challenge the government now faces is to find the right, qualified people for the job. One idea might be to use the backing and sponsorship of the banks and larger financial institutions which could leverage their expertise and experience and restore trust," he said.
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Topics on the proposed curriculum, which has been devised by the Department of Education and the Personal Financial Education Group (pfeg), include managing risk, budgeting, savings, income and expenditure and insurance.
But Mr Hutchings said specialist areas such as protection should not be overlooked in favour of a more general approach.
He said: "Knowing the basics is essential but it's also vital to understand the different forms of protection available such as life insurance, permanent health insurance and critical illness. While we don't want to think of ourselves with ailing health, it's important that younger generations are aware of what could happen and what provisions can be put in place."
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It was confirmed earlier this week that financial education will be compulsory for secondary-school children from September 2014.
Director Ivan Hutchings CFPCM said: "The days of receiving good, sound advice from your local bank manager or building society are being phased out; increased regulation and pressure on the banking sector means a lot of people are unsure where to go to get advice.
"We need to ensure we are doing everything we can to equip our younger generations with the knowledge needed to provide for their future. The country is already facing a savings crisis and we cannot afford to let this problem grow worse."
Mr Hutchings said the next issue would be to decide who is suitable to teach the classes and provide the materials and suggested banks should get involved.
"The challenge the government now faces is to find the right, qualified people for the job. One idea might be to use the backing and sponsorship of the banks and larger financial institutions which could leverage their expertise and experience and restore trust," he said.
{desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile}
Topics on the proposed curriculum, which has been devised by the Department of Education and the Personal Financial Education Group (pfeg), include managing risk, budgeting, savings, income and expenditure and insurance.
But Mr Hutchings said specialist areas such as protection should not be overlooked in favour of a more general approach.
He said: "Knowing the basics is essential but it's also vital to understand the different forms of protection available such as life insurance, permanent health insurance and critical illness. While we don't want to think of ourselves with ailing health, it's important that younger generations are aware of what could happen and what provisions can be put in place."
• Want to receive a free weekly summary of the best news stories from our website? Just go to home page and submit your name and email address. If you are already logged in you will need to log out to see the e-newsletter sign up. You can then log in again.
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