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Time for personal finance lessons

When should we learn about personal finance? Doesn't it make sense to understand money before we grow up and have to make important decisions?

We're seeing more calls for financial education in school: teaching pupils about the ins and outs of personal finance, from budgeting and bills to debt and mortgages.

The Financial Times quotes Tracey Bleakley, chief executive of the Personal Finance Education Group (PFEG), who said: "We have to help children get into good habits at school, encourage the concept of saving, and everyone - parents, teachers, politicians, the financial industry, seems to back that."

225 MPs are backing the PFEG campaign to make 'financial literacy' an essential part of the national curriculum in England. Children in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland already receive compulsory personal finance lessons, but the subject failed to enter the English national curriculum in 2010 when the Children, Schools and Families Bill was dropped.

"Personal finances are a key part of modern life," commented a spokesperson for the IVA Advisory Centre. "The more children are prepared to handle money, the better they'll be able to cope with the decisions they have to make when they grow up. So it's good to see calls to make it part of every child's education.

"Of course, whatever approach the schools take to personal finance lessons, it won't help people who left school years ago. But learning doesn't stop when we leave school - the internet offers plenty of reliable guides that can help people make better choices about their money.

"And there are many companies and charities that provide advice and support to people who've run into difficulties. The important thing is to take action early on - to realise when you're starting to struggle and get some help before the problems have a chance to get worse."