You have your mother’s eyes and your father’s debts: Study finds how teens inherit money habits from their parents

It would appear that genes aren’t the only thing that parents pass down to their children, with a study finding teenagers exhibit similar traits when it comes to handling their finances.

Young people whose parents struggle to pay off their debts are less likely to budget their own finances sensibly compared to those with parents who can live within their own means, the Money Advice Service has found.

And two-thirds of 15 to 17-year-olds whose families can save for ’emergency costs’ have a regular habit of saving their pocket money or wages from part-time work, compared to 47 per cent from families who can’t cope with unexpected costs.

Money Advice Service chief executive Caroline Rookes said: ‘We know our money habits are formed very young, and once formed are extremely difficult to shift.

‘But I am struck by how heavily a young person’s money management habits are influenced by their family’s past and present financial behaviour.

‘This is our first glimpse of how these young people are coping with the transition into adulthood – we see a generation “coming of age” through a period of austerity, a group that’s witnessing rapid financial change and learning how to cope and plan.

‘It’s vital we keep track of their habits effectively so we can better understand their challenges and help them deal with life’s financial ups and downs.’

Although teenagers take note of their parents’ attitudes to money, there are positive signs that they will be better equipped to deal with their finances once they reach full adulthood.

School league tables widen to eight subjects

Secondary school league tables in England are to be re-designed to discourage an over-emphasis on pupils achieving C grades at GCSE, says Schools Minister David Laws.

From 2016, schools will be measured on overall results in eight GCSE subjects.

There will be four key league table measures, showing pupils’ progress as well as final grades.

Education Select Committee chairman Graham Stuart has hailed the change as an “educational breakthrough”.

Mr Stuart said it would remove the “damaging obsession” with the C grade boundary.

Career colleges to teach pupils to become carers

Thousands of pupils will be able to learn how to become carers and chefs in a new network of ‘career colleges.’

The colleges will see pupils taught practical skills for work, while they continue studying for GCSEs in maths, English and science.

Under plans for the new centres teenagers will be able to leave school two years earlier at 14 and go to one of the colleges to learn more vocational skills.

It is hoped the ‘career colleges’ will plug a skills gap in England and help to reduce the number of people who are unemployed.

“By starting at 14, youngsters have a head start in preparing for the world of work as they do in Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands, where youth unemployment is much lower,” Lord Baker of Dorking, who will publish the plans today, told The Independent.

He said it was “about time” the skills gap in the UK was filled with “our own young people” rather than people from overseas being brought in because they had the skills needed.

Lord Baker said the aim of the career colleges was to ensure every 16 to 18-year-old was in work or educational or vocational training when they left school. The latest government figures show there are more than 200,000 in this age range who are not in employment, education or training (Neet).

UK demand for financial education highest in Europe

The demand for financial education in UK schools is the highest in Europe, according to a survey.

Research by the organisation Ipsos for banking group ING found that 88pc of adults in the UK said financial education should be taught in schools; the highest level of support of 12 European countries surveyed.

Demand for financial education in schools was lowest in France, at 63pc.

Financial education will become compulsory in schools across England for the first time next year, following its inclusion in the new curriculum.

Personal finance is already taught in schools in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Tracey Bleakley, chief executive of Personal Finance Education Group (pfeg), said: “This research shows that the UK is leading Europe when it comes to demand for financial education – and we want to see it leading Europe when it comes to its supply as well.

“Financial education’s new place in the secondary National Curriculum from next September will make a huge difference, but is not enough on its own. We need to ensure that all schools – including primary schools, Academies and Free Schools – give their pupils the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to manage their money well.”

Despite being the strongest supporter of financial education in school, only 12pc of UK adults surveyed said they had been taught about money in class, lower than the weighted average of 13pc.

In contrast, a quarter of Austrians surveyed said they had received financial education lessons in school. However, the under-25s in Europe are much more likely to have received financial education at school than older age groups.

Almost 12,000 people in 12 countries were polled by Ipsos between April 18 and May 15 this year.

The Money Advice Service released research earlier this year which found that most children’s financial habits have already been formed by the time they reach seven years old.

Millions of grandparents to fund grandchildren’s university education

Millions of grandparents expect to have to help fund their grandchildren through university as students continue to struggle with high tuition fees

More than 360,000 grandparents have already helped out with funding their grandchildren through university but this figure is expected to rise as more students struggle to cope with the cost of university tuition fees, researchers found.

Around one in eight over 55s think they will need to contribute to fees of around £9,000 a year, with many dipping into their savings to help out their grandchildren when they go onto higher education.

Experts warned that with extra pressures on finances for the under 55s, grandparents need to plan if they want to help their grandchildren.

Researchers found as people got older more expected to make a contribution, 10 per cent of those aged between 55 and 64 planning to help with funding, which increased to 15 per cent for the over 65s.

Around 637,456 students applied to university in 2013, compared with 618,247 in 2012, which suggests people could be using their families to help them pay fees.

Students face cost-of-living crisis, suggests NUS data

Students in England face a cost-of-living crisis as loans and grants fail to keep pace with rents and bills, claims the National Union of Students.

The gap between income and expenditure for a typical student amounts to more than £7,600 according to NUS analysis.

The union compared the cost of living and studying for the 39-week 2013-14 academic year with typical income from government grants and loans.

The government said it was targeting support at those who needed it most.

Rent, bills and other outgoings continue to rise year after year above the rate of inflation but grants and loan rates were frozen this year and will only rise by 1% next year, says the union.

It estimates that a student living outside London will pay an average of £21,440 in tuition fees, books, equipment, rent, travel and other living expenses.

Against this, they have a potential income of £13,747 composed of their tuition fee loan plus maintenance loans and the grants available to those on average and low incomes.

This leaves a shortfall of £7,693.

One in 10 parents make house purchase choice based on schools, study shows

Research by Nationwide demonstrates increasing desperation of parents scrambling to secure best education for their children

Nearly a quarter of UK parents of children of school age would be prepared to pay between 2% and 10% more for a new home – potentially thousands of pounds extra – in order to be in the catchment area of a good state school, according to research by Nationwide.

In a sign of the growing desperation of parents scrambling to secure the best education for their youngsters by living close to the top state schools, nearly one in ten (8%) admit they would shell out a premium of more than 10% extra for their house, while 8% would pay up to an additional 2%.

The research, published today by the UK’s largest building society, the Nationwide, and carried out by YouGov, also shows that parents are already making house purchase choices based on schools. Nearly one in five parents (18 %) admit that a school league table or school Ofsted rating has influenced where they chose to live. It comes as parents are currently doing the rounds of open days held at primary and secondary schools, for admission next year.

University leavers lack the essential skills for work, employers warn

Large numbers of students are leaving university lacking the basic skills needed to get by in the workplace, according to new research.

More than half of employers said all or almost all graduate recruits started work without vital attributes, such as team work, communication, punctuality and the ability to cope under pressure.

A poll of company leaders found that just under one in five businesses believe graduates are “work ready”.

The conclusions will add to concerns that schools, colleges and universities are too focused on ensuring that young people pass exams at the expense of equipping them with life skills.

Experts also warned that it raised questions over the extent to which universities are spending tuition fee income on programmes designed to get students ready for work, particularly with the cost of a degree rising to £9,000 a year in England.

The YouGov research was based on a survey of 635 employers, including 419 directly responsible for recruiting graduates. In all, 52 per cent of graduate employers said none or few graduate recruits were work-ready when they joined, with 17 per cent claiming none of them were fit for the job.

“Money” to be taught in schools – with a lesson on state spending

Financial education has been confirmed as an official part of the English national curriculum, including lessons on the public finances.

Children will be taught how to manage their money in schools for the first time in England, after financial education was included in the final version of the national curriculum.

The detail was published last night by the Department for Education and includes financial education in mathematics and citizenship education for secondary school pupils.

There have been further elements added since a draft curriculum earlier in the year opened to consultation, including lessons in how public money is raised and spent.

Personal finance is already taught in schools in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In Mathematics, “financial mathematics” is emphasised for the first time. Pupils will be asked to solve problems involving percentage change and simple interest, for example.

Pupils will learn to manage their money and plan for future financial decisions in citizenship classes, which will also include lessons in financial products and how public money is raised through measures like income tax, according to the published curriculum.

The curriculum will be rolled out across all government-funded, or maintained, schools, from September 2014.

Tracey Bleakley, pfeg chief executive, said: “It is especially welcome to see the link between personal finance and public finances restored to the final programmes of study for Citizenship education.

‘Fortnight spent on Lessons forgotten over summer’

More than one third of London primary school teachers will spend the first two weeks of term going over forgotten lessons as children suffer from summer holiday “brain drain”, research suggests.

Experts called on parents to organise more educational activities during the six-week break to stop children from regressing in their studies.

It comes after shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg urged parents to make sure their children read during the holidays to prevent the “summer slide” in educational achievement.

Research published today by education entertainment company LeapFrog found that just 23 per cent of parents actively kept up learning activities and school exercises over the summer holidays, while 10 per cent said they think it solely up to teachers to educate their children.

Just two per cent of parents considered educational activities as a top priority in the holidays — instead, keeping costs down was the top priority for almost a quarter of parents.

As a result, 38 per cent of London primary school teachers will spend up to two weeks covering old ground, the survey claimed. It said maths and English were most badly affected.

Labour has called for more summer reading programmes to be available for lower income families after research found poorer children are believed to be hit the hardest by the “summer slide”.