Thesis joins campaign for finance education
Investment firm Thesis Asset Management has added its voice to calls for financial education in schools, warning that the lack of awareness was harming the younger generation.
Kate Nathoo, regional director for Thesis Asset Management, said it should be made compulsory for youngsters to have financial education.
She said: “It should be mandatory to learn about finance because as an adult all aspects of your life, whether that is job, travel or family, will revolve in some way around money. This fact cannot be escaped or ignored for any longer to the detriment of our nation’s youth.”
Ms Nathoo said the national securities and investment certificate has been introduced as a qualification for over-16s and said she hoped that many state schools would introduce the course.
She also added that the Junior Isa would provide teenagers with a real-life opportunity to take responsibility for what could be a considerable sum of money from a relatively young age.
Ms Nathoo said: “While a child cannot take out capital until the age of 18, thanks to an interesting quirk of the product children can take control of the investments from the age of 16. What better way to learn about the inflation-beating benefits of investing in real assets and the volatility of the stock market or the conundrum of risk versus reward.”
David Penny, managing director of Somerset-based Invest Southwest IFA, said: “It is a no-brainer that the state should tool up the youngsters with the knowledge and skills to do so. Failure to educate children will simply result in billions being needed to support financially distressed adults in years to come. It is an embarrassment that this issue even needs debate.”
