Financial Fairy Tales

My friend saves up five pences in a glass coca cola bottle, my aunty puts a chunk of her wages in a savings account every month and my neighbour stuffs twenty pound notes at the back of her wardrobe. Different ways of saving work for different people. Some folks don't seem to get this - I know there are lots of insurmountable reasons why but it is something I often think about. It seems to me that most people don't know their options, let alone the consequences of acting on those options. Credit cards, store cards, over drafts, loans...the decisions you make when you are young about these things can dramatically change your life.

I was chattering to Andy about this very topic last week and there are some pretty interesting services being developed around this issue.

I discovered The Financial Fairy Tales which is a series of books that take a unique approach to financial literacy for younger children by exploring money and business related themes through engaging fairy stories. Dreams Can Come True, the first book in the series is available from Authorhouse from February 2010.

"The Financial Fairy Tales will form the basis of a financial education strategy which will include teachers' notes, multimedia presentations and guidance for parents. The aim is to promote financial literacy and enterprise awareness around the world.

If ever there was a time for better financial education then surely it is now? When you look at the state of many of the economies around the world it’s a mystery why financial education is not compulsory schools. It is easy to blame banks, big business or governments for the current climate but it is the education of individuals that need to change."

The founder, Daniel Britton rightly says ... at school, we may have learned some skills necessary to get a job, but nobody tells us how to create or manage our wealth. If we cannot educate ourselves on ways to obtain and retain our money, we are headed for a future financial disaster. Follow him on twitter.

I quickly discovered alot of related work - MoneySense is the largest impartial financial education programme for children and adults across the country. Developed in partnership with teachers, MoneySense for Schools is aimed at 11–18s and their teachers. The programme has a presence in over 60% of secondary schools in the UK,  supporting students in learning how to manage their personal finances. My Money, My Rights have teamed up with Abbey to launch a new pocket guide offering clear and up to date information on all aspects of money for young people

This would definitely be a dream project of mine and with two thirds of young people demanding a better financial education it might just happen.