Are you good with money? I learnt to be careful with it during my childhood. My father would give me some pocket money and tell me it should last for a whole week. So, I learnt I had to save some if I didnt want to run out of cash quickly. No surprise there: my dad was an accountant!
Its never too early to become money savvy1. Thats what British personal finances expert Martin Lewis thinks. He was part of a successful campaign to include financial education on the school curriculum in England. It will be embedded2 in maths and citizenship3 education. This includes children from 5 to 16 years old.
Lewis says: We desperately4 need to break the cycle of financial illiteracy5 in the UK - one of the causes of our current economic crisis and a huge contributor to continued misselling epidemics6.
Being careful with money pays off. Banks in Britain recently found themselves having to compensate7 a large number of people who were persuaded to part with their cash and buy insurance policies they didnt need. Many wasted their money on investments which were not for them. Few have the patience to read the small print.
The British say take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves. It means you have to watch your daily expenses and not just the big purchases in your life such as houses.
Martin Lewis has made millions from his website which advises people to be thrifty8 and refuses any suggestion that he is tight. The expert says in an interview with the English newspaper the Daily Express: the better you are with your cash, the better your life can be. People think I am telling them to sTOP spending money but I am simply telling them to spend it wisely.
What about you: Are you money savvy?
