In the latest WealthTalk episode, Kevin and Christian discuss how schools are failing to teach financial education to children and the serious long term consequences of this. A recent survey commissioned by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) and the debt collection agency Lowell found that 68% of young people in the UK reported that a lack of money management skills is a key factor in driving them into debt. The study noted that 79% of adults who didn’t receive financial education have fallen behind on utility bills or council tax payments over the previous six months. They are also more likely to be unemployed or earning less than the national average wage. With two-fifths of teachers not knowing that financial education, a subject that has been mandatory since 2014, is a legal curriculum requirement, we can’t rely on schools to teach our children about money matters. It is not about teaching your child to be rich, but empowering them with the financial skills to help them follow and achieve their life goals. Tune in to the episode to hear Kevin and Christian’s experiences with money talk growing up, the importance of educating your children and the financial consequences that could impact throughout their life if they are not correctly educated.
In the latest WealthTalk episode, Kevin and Christian discuss how schools are failing to teach financial education to children and the serious long term consequences of this.
A recent survey commissioned by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) and the debt collection agency Lowell found that 68% of young people in the UK reported that a lack of money management skills is a key factor in driving them into debt.
The study noted that 79% of adults who didn’t receive financial education have fallen behind on utility bills or council tax payments over the previous six months. They are also more likely to be unemployed or earning less than the national average wage.
With two-fifths of teachers not knowing that financial education, a subject that has been mandatory since 2014, is a legal curriculum requirement, we can’t rely on schools to teach our children about money matters.
It is not about teaching your child to be rich, but empowering them with the financial skills to help them follow and achieve their life goals.
Tune in to the episode to hear Kevin and Christian’s experiences with money talk growing up, the importance of educating your children and the financial consequences that could impact throughout their life if they are not correctly educated.
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Unknown Speaker 0:01
The purpose of wealth talk is to educate, inform, and hopefully entertain you on the subject of building your wealth. Wealth builders recommends you should always take independent financial tax or legal advice before making any decisions around your finances.
Christian Rodwell 0:20
Welcome to Episode 184 of wealth talk. My name is Christian Rodwell, the membership director of wealth builders joined today by our founder, Mr. Kevin Whelan. Hi, Kevin.
Unknown Speaker 0:29
Hello, Chris. Good to see you again. And congratulations on a house move yourself. It's all good. Yes. Isn't that really
Christian Rodwell 0:36
thank you. Thank you. But you've been scouring the papers this week, Kevin. And there's one article in particular that's caught your eye. And it's on the topic of children and money?
Unknown Speaker 0:49
Well, I'm not sure I'm scouring but it was in the Financial Times. So you could probably forgive me for having a look at that. And it basically said schools are flouting their legal obligation to teach children about money matters, apparently, it's compulsory in the curriculum to put money matters on the teaching table. But it's been ignored. And as the real teeth to follow that up, there's no appetite for this. In national level, there's no appetite for this. at local level, of course, there are some pockets of outstanding excellence in different places. But that's not good enough to teach an entire generation, on how to be financially responsible adults. And in fact, as I got curious about that, and my blood bowled a little bit about it, I saw there was some other articles in different publications, but they were really talking about the lack of financial education or financial literacy is driving more children into lower earnings potential, and more likely to fall behind with things like utility bills and other things. So it's, they're not being taught the skills. And the other worrying thing is, according to an organisation, which is the centre of justice made misquoted is slightly wrong. But two thirds of kids lack the skills, you know, to be able to manage debt. And increasingly now, they're falling behind and getting into serious, serious difficulties, as young adults, just simply cannot cope with with the financial responsibility. And what what it's telling me, Chris, is, the evidences kids, unless they're taught well, will suffer serious financial consequences, not just at the beginning of their life as an as an adult. But that will probably compound over their lifetime, and lead to years and years and years of worry, and uncertainty, when the very value of wealth builders and the things that we teach things we hold dear, or at certainty, and control that gives freedom, not uncertainty, and being completely out of control. And I think our parents in wealth builders want to pass on the lessons. But perhaps they're hoping the schools will do it. Because they won't, and they can't, because who's taught the teachers? It's not me having a go of teachers, I think they do a great job, but they can't teach something that they haven't been given the where with all the skills and the knowledge to be able to even learn it for themselves. So issue for me, big issue.
Christian Rodwell 3:49
It is a big issue. And we know there are some outstanding people out there. One of them is Abby Foster, who we had on the podcast just a few weeks back, Episode 179. And Abby was talking about how she's taking financial education in schools. But of course, that's really just scratching the surface at the moment. And so we really feel that the way to educate the children is through the parents, Kevin, and every time we've talked about the imminent wealth builders for families programme, we've just had such an amazing response from all of our wealth builder members and other listeners to
Unknown Speaker 4:22
Well, look, it's it's, you know, I know it's been something that's been on the stock for a while, but it's already now in my head being written, we did some really good work with a with another teacher who's near Morgan, who really helped us get that the whole process kick started. And of course, as you just begin to think about why that's important, and what the options are, you begin to realise we've got no other option. We've got to do this. So I'm going to make this my life's work, Chris. I'm going to completely dedicate myself to this. Once I've got the latest project, which is The whole problem with a lack of education around pensions freedoms, which is a misnomer itself, all this freedom we've got, but nobody has the knowledge to be able to deal and handle with all the necessary skills to make that freedom come to life. But anyway, enough about that one, I've had that rant over recent weeks. But look, if we don't do it, who else can do it? Right? So you could say, well, you know, kids, I found out about it myself, I found out about money myself. The kids will sort it out for themselves, right? They'll be alright. But do you want the plan of social media to be able to drive what your kids learn about money, we know how easy it is and how desperate Some children have become, because they're living in a social media comparison environment, where the sort of reels of successful people, you know, stuff that may take years and years and years to build. But as shown in such a short sequence, children are beginning to feel as if they're not capable, competent people, because they're not making the progress that they see other people make. And what plans are Facebook got for your kids? What plans have so many different sides got for your kids, what plans of the financial services, institutions and the banks as your kids go out the door, you know, to college university or beyond, in order to educate them in the wrong direction to stick a matrix like syphon into the money of our children to feed an institution that doesn't encourage and doesn't build the wealth of the next generation, I think we have to do it, Chris, I don't think we got a choice, we have to grasp the nettle. And I'm going to lead that process. To get parents properly skilled, I know they want to, and how they can at any age level, because once you're a parent, you know I'm a granddad now. So I've been a parent with kids from little tiny ones, to now having little tiny ones of their own. So I know that when you're a parent, you're a parent for life. So you need to be thinking as we will be doing, how to address the needs of the five year old and a six year old, and the 25 and the 26 year old and even beyond that in certain cases, because you know, my sister's got a special needs child and that that child is going to be dependent forever. You know, so it isn't a lesson that you can teach a child at that stage is a it's a lesson that we are going to have to absorb and share that with the parents so that they can take that responsibility moving forward.
Christian Rodwell 7:45
And we're looking forward to building a community of forward thinking parents, and really showing them how to move their children from financially unaware to financially savvy and responsible because we're seeing in the news as well, Kevin, the average age of first time buyers is in the late 30s. Now, yeah,
Unknown Speaker 8:02
47. Yeah, and bank and mom or dad are increasingly coming to the table. And we'll be talking about how to be the best bank of mum and dad and how to build different things you can do with deposits for for younger members to sort of get them on the property ladder, and all sorts of different things we can maybe, you know, signpost, some of the things that we'll be doing, Chris across the age ranges, because right now you could be a parent of a five year old, as I say, as you know, haven't got quite a 35 year old, but I've got a 30 year old and the lessons are going to be very, very different from that, which is why you can't teach the kids, you know, you can't just put something in front of the kids because in order to be a great teacher, you've got to understand it. And I think the awareness for us as parents is going to be to try and understand that first of all the message we're giving, right? So the lessons that I was learning at home was money isn't a subject you talk about, if you do you get a clip around the arrow for asking a question about money. And I don't know what your experience was. But for so many of us. The experience was not empowering was not being taught in a deliberate and conscientious way. And that's no sleight on what my parents did. I'm sure they did their absolute best. But we all seem to be kind of replicating the imprint that we got from the past generation, lest we break free of that. So I'd definitely like to be helping parents think about the messages they're giving, and how to almost create a framework for passing on lessons. And the suggestion we have is certainly for the younger child, you're doing that over mealtimes you can feed them anyway. Right. So, why not do that over mealtimes and we've got a whole series of thoughts and good practices that we'll be sharing about what to do at mealtimes with the younger ones once a week to make sure that you know you're dealing with On work issues, you're dealing with chore issues, you're dealing with responsibility issues and how you can start to do things that will make kids really enjoy the process of money being in their life and recognising it and appreciating it. Because so much of money now is digital. Can't remember the last time I got coins out of my pocket, Chris, is notes. Now, everything is going digital. So I think we want kids to have an awareness of that. And there are ways to even bring that and then there was looking at some resources on on twinkle, which is a really major website designed to help tutors, and homeschooling parents and all sorts of things. And they've got some great workbooks and examples of how kids can recognise money account money, when they're at a very young age. So that, that they see it as part of what's going on in life rather than mom and dad tapping and swiping and doing whatever they do.
Christian Rodwell 11:01
Yeah, we've been building up a huge range of resources and connections, which is really, really exciting behind the behind the scenes. And of course, if anyone listening wants to get involved and be kept up to date on developments, then please head to wealth builders.co.uk forward slash families, just put your name and email address in there. And we'll keep you updated. And we'll do some beta launching and do some focus groups around this, Kevin so people can contribute. And we've had many, many case studies already from our current members.
Unknown Speaker 11:32
Well, absolutely in its it's probably right and proper, isn't it that those enlightened parents who are building wealth for themselves are now starting to share those lessons and some fascinating and interesting ones will do for games, what are the right games to play when you've got younger kids, and you've got some experience of dealing with the older ones with cashflow, cashflow one on one, but there's also cashflow for kids isn't there. And monopoly was always a great bought. And of course, there's that giant monopoly in London now where it's the size of a room, you know, so you can really start to get action because kids learn more from actions, you could argue adults do too, don't they, but getting them to take some small actions. You know, I was talking to Shelley James the other day, who's just brilliant teaching about the impact of light, you know, and I was saying, wouldn't it you know, one of the things that I remember doing as a school kid was, you know, they will melt monitors, and they were, I'm older than you, Chris, you probably don't even know this milk money used to have school milk. So somebody's responsible for putting the milk bottles on the table and an ink monitors when you to put your fountain pen into right, you know, all of those things. And I remember being an ink monitor and, and making sure everybody's well was topped up. And it's fascinating. Now you can, especially now with kind of being more responsible for, for the planet, and the higher cost of energy. You could even give kids the job of being like monitors, you know, so they're, they're going round just at mealtimes, making sure every light that's not needed in the house is switched off and make that part of their responsibility so that they feel they've got some responsibility. But it's being encouraged. So it's not just about money, is it? We're not trying to make money obsessed kids, couldn't be further from the truth, just responsible kids. And that responsibility extends to other people, for gifting for sharing for the planet. And as we'll get to know, our kids get to know their learning styles. They're all little genies at something, aren't they little geniuses. genies waiting to get out of a bottle. And we want to learn more about each of our kids and what brings their special talents and their special interests out. And so many of them are interested in social and responsible things, aren't there, Chris? And we'd love to see that.
Christian Rodwell 14:01
Absolutely, yeah. It's not about teaching the kids to be rich, but empowering them with the financial skills to help them follow and achieve their life goals. And so transformational journey, not just for their children, but for the parents to and it was Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist who said the best way to learn is to teach.
Unknown Speaker 14:18
Yeah, yeah, well, it's a good thing for us that there's some good practices around there already. And we've been teaching for a while, even part of the debits process, Chris, when we had the debits challenge some months ago, we talked about tax and that children got tax allowances and children of all ages have got tax allowances and there are special rules about what kids can and can't do. certain ages and we'll bring all of those lessons out. Because we want the children to also as they get a little bit older to take that responsibility for just getting the experience of earning not for the money necessarily, but for the benefit of playing on a team for the benefit of Making a contribution making the best efforts and to go away with the responsibility of just getting a glowing reference from whoever they work for, so that they can learn not to. I suppose many people and my kids saw this when they did jobs, there's so many people around them, when they temporarily go in to do things, who are not taking responsibility are always moaning, and the social politics of all of this, and we get your kids to see that. So they realise they don't want to be living their life in the future, and that sort of entitlement, or that way of always being a victim and never being in control and in charge of their own destiny. So you can get them to do certain things. That just means they always getting a good reference, because they're always playing full on for their team, whether it's an employee, or whether it's an entrepreneur. And we're very much looking forward to sharing entrepreneurial ideas, with younger people, and in due course, and I think part of what I will do is sponsor some young entrepreneurs and young entrepreneur ideas, to try and bring them to a marketplace but also to show that is not about getting a job as Robert Kiyosaki says, you know, most people get good grades, you know, to go to university get a good good job, well, involving in all of that there's lots of things which are about learning on your own, as opposed to collaborating with others. And not everybody's really academically gifted, but they can be gifted in so many other ways. So part of that will be creating a little assessment, bit like our wealth dynamics for grownups, Chris will be doing assessments for younger probably in the teens as they're discovering more about their learning styles and what they're good at what they like what they don't like. And as we say, we want to just make sure we're trying to encourage those people who might want to pursue a career in more, more entrepreneurial ways, why wouldn't they be encouraged to do that, rather than just going for a job as everybody has done in the past?
Christian Rodwell 17:05
Yeah. Now, every time we talk about this topic, Kevin, we have listeners, emailing us, messaging us with fantastic stories, ideas, contributions, and I'm sure we will again this time. So if you're listening now, if we sparked an idea, if you'd like to share something with us that perhaps you've been doing, to teach your children about money, please do get in touch best way is head to wealth builders.co.uk forward slash families. And you can drop some message through the form on that page.
Unknown Speaker 17:32
Got a review this week,
Christian Rodwell 17:34
where we do indeed, Kevin, and Eric has left a review saying I was really impressed with the session I had with Kevin, extremely helpful and knowledgeable. And whilst we were not able to progress with the service that was of interest to me, he still took the time to give me a load of invaluable advice and guidance. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 17:53
Yeah, that's fine. We're everybody knows, I hope anyway, by now, we're not driven by an outcome for ourselves. When we have conversations with people, hopefully they feel the integrity, Chris, of what we do. And sometimes, we just want to send people on the right path. And that path includes us great. And if it doesn't, that's great. We're always looking to make connections. And again, that's really part of what life's all about that collaborations and connections. So we want to bring parents together, we want to create a huge community of enlightened parents to have events and interesting things that you can participate in. Because to me, it's all about kids acting kids participating kids doing things. Rather than putting kids back into a classroom or sticking them in front of a screen. We definitely don't want to do that. And the final
Christian Rodwell 18:44
mention that if you're listening and thinking, hey, perhaps I better sharpen up my own financial literacy, then we've got another webinar coming. And we'll be live on the 21st of March. And we'll be holding a webinar titled How to create a clear plan within 60 days to build predictable recurring income from assets. We'll be talking through our nine step recurring revenue roadmap, where we show you how you can build recurring income, and Kevin wheels look forward to these sessions. And we'll have some of our members, I'm sure sharing some of their stories on that too.
Unknown Speaker 19:18
Well, that's a good point you make about sharpening your own sword. Because as we mentioned earlier on, one of the challenges with the school system is, you know, the teachers themselves with final salary pensions, generally speaking, you know, they're relying on that as a way to build their own wealth. Not that I'm either pro or against that. But almost all of the work of building their wealth, for the most part anyways, coming from a direct relationship between that and the employment. So they don't have necessarily either the time or the inclination or the knowledge to build the paths on how you build assets because they're not building any generally speaking anyway. So Certainly not in the job. So what we're trying to do here and what you think you said, there's because well, if the teacher can't teach it because they don't know and understand all the lessons yet, I'm sure there must be some people listening are thinking, current am I going to teach my kids about compound interest? And we're going to teach my kids about assets versus liabilities? How am I going to teach my kids about, Do I know the needs and wants or, or deferred spending or how to better deal with the first payslip how to deal with the first property they buy, how to deal with what they should do at university, you know, when usually in years, two, three and four, when you could actually be occupying a property, instead of paying somebody else to occupy a property. So so many different things? Well, you can learn those. And that's a great point you made Chris. So to teach somebody else is a good thing. But you have to be confident enough to teach things to yourself so that you open your mind to that. So yeah, good point, Chris. And I hope more parents who are serious about helping their kids can take a small step into educating themselves first, and then we'll help them transfer those lessons at age appropriate styles. So that they can get the best practice of the other parents that we're working with, at six a day a 1012, and 15, and 20, and so on. So that no matter where you are on the parenting journey, and one quick point, you know, the stuff we're gonna teach people about money and being a money role model is not going to make them by nature, better parents and their kids better kids, kids are going to be kids, and we're going to be who we are. So we're not going to solve that problem. But you are right, Chris, I think we're just trying to get that financial responsibility built in. So the day that when, you know, when you say goodbye to them as they, whether they're catching a train or driving their own car, and they're leaving the nest, to go off to wherever they go off to, you just want to feel they've got it. You don't want to be worried about that. And I think so many parents looking at the stats that I read out at the beginning, they, they shouldn't be worried, because so many of our young adults now are getting into serious serious difficulty, not necessarily with student loans, because that's really attacks is not really the loans we will cover in the programme. So I'm never worried about student loans. But I'm worried about debt, because debt can suck the very life out of you and make people be terrible, terrible investors and, and planners have their life for the rest of their lives. So please take it seriously with us. And if you want to know more, where should they register their interest? Again, Chris,
Christian Rodwell 22:52
for the families programme, head to wealth builders.co.uk forward slash families. And I should probably share the URL if people are interested in signing up for the webinar. So that would be wealth builders.co.uk forward slash Academy webinar. All one word. All right.
Unknown Speaker 23:07
Well, Chris, thanks for giving me a chance just to where, you know, my thoughts about the latest stats that I'm seeing both from schools and from other organisations about our young adults. And I know we didn't have too many other things to do this week, because you had your house move on and lots of things going on. So yeah, short and sweet today, but I hope it was valuable.
Christian Rodwell 23:28
Yeah, thanks again for listening. And, Kevin, we'll catch up Same time, same place next week.
Unknown Speaker 23:33
We will indeed until then my friend. See ya.
Unknown Speaker 23:39
We hope you enjoy today's episode. Don't forget that we are constantly updating our resources inside the wealth builders membership site to help you create, build and protect your wealth. Head over to wealth builders.co.uk/membership right now for free access. That's wealth builders.co.uk/membership
Transcribed by https://otter.ai