Puts our pay into perspective

[Major Hassle]

Minimum wage is 7.20 an hour (until April when it's 7.50), most of us will earn in an hour more than someone on minimum wage earns in a day.....

[The_Equalizer]

You mean like the self-cert mortgages and the 6 times your income that were being offered?

That sort of thing and other wacky stuff such as no signature self-cert mortgages applied for online and joint loans advanced without consent of second party.

[kaiser78]

I guess this relates to a lot of people who claim to be almost on the bread line, bar the Sky+ HD, iphones, xbox and of course ciggies that they seem to be able to afford though

[LondonManc]

I guess this relates to a lot of people who claim to be almost on the bread line, bar the Sky+ HD, iphones, xbox and of course ciggies that they seem to be able to afford though

You go with your stereotyping; I've seen it first hand and it's nothing like that for the people I know.

[d000hg]

Teachers cannot teach what they don't know plus the range of loans and credit options changes all the time.

Anyway it's up to parents to teach their children as well.

Ther education board could put together some things to teach. Lets call it, for better word, a "sillybus". Teachers can teach from that and each year the "sillybus" can be updated as the world changes.

Less passive-aggressively, you can easily bring simple financial stuff into maths teaching for instance rather than create a new subject. And don't many schools still teach General Studies into which any old guff can be pushed?

[The_Equalizer]

Ther education board could put together some things to teach. Lets call it, for better word, a "sillybus". Teachers can teach from that and each year the "sillybus" can be updated as the world changes.

Less passive-aggressively, you can easily bring simple financial stuff into maths teaching for instance rather than create a new subject. And don't many schools still teach General Studies into which any old guff can be pushed?

Finance basics should be right up there with other basic skills such as reading and writing. It's just as important. Sometimes, in paranoid moments, I wonder if it's deliberately not included.

[LondonManc]

Ther education board could put together some things to teach. Lets call it, for better word, a "sillybus". Teachers can teach from that and each year the "sillybus" can be updated as the world changes.

Less passive-aggressively, you can easily bring simple financial stuff into maths teaching for instance rather than create a new subject. And don't many schools still teach General Studies into which any old guff can be pushed?

General Studies A level was scrapped 18 months ago.

[vwdan]

Then again the lenders weren't exactly prudent. I know of some quite 'interesting' lending practices on the run-up to 2008.

At 18, a mate and I declared that we were setting up an IT business. We were still in college, but figured it'd be a laugh - I walked into HSBC and walked out with a £1000 credit card and an Overdraft.

6 months later, now in full time employment (Still with the sole trader/partnership account in my name) earning somewhere around £12k a year, I walked into the bank to borrow £4500 for a car. Walked out with £6000.

These were both in around 2004, so I can't say I was completely surprised when it all fell apart.

[The_Equalizer]

At 18, a mate and I declared that we were setting up an IT business. We were still in college, but figured it'd be a laugh - I walked into HSBC and walked out with a £1000 credit card and an Overdraft.

6 months later, now in full time employment (Still with the sole trader/partnership account in my name) earning somewhere around £12k a year, I walked into the bank to borrow £4500 for a car. Walked out with £6000.

These were both in around 2004, so I can't say I was completely surprised when it all fell apart.

Some of the antics of the banks were a bit mind blowing. HBoS is a very good example. Short version here:

HBOS' demise: How it happened - BBC

Longer, more what on earth were they doing version here:

The Worst Bank in the World? HBOS’s Calamitous Seven Year Life - Ian Fraser

Interestingly it seems it was the mortgage brokers and mortgage applicants that 'did bird'. The big boys dodged it.

[LondonManc]

Finance basics should be right up there with other basic skills such as reading and writing. It's just as important. Sometimes, in paranoid moments, I wonder if it's deliberately not included.

The suppression of the masses - keep them average, keep them ignorant and feed them the news that you think they want to hear, such as that it's worse elsewhere in the world, we've not got much money ourselves but at least we're not getting shot to pieces. GCSEs have now been dumbed-down enough to kill off all but the brightest's hopes of a career in science and pushing everyone into meejuh studies or sport science just so they get a degree seems to be the way to go.

If your kid is good at maths, encourage them to push hard with it - that and law are where the real money is at. One lad I know is an on-call lawyer on 2.5k per day plus expenses and the other is a mathematician who retired at 37.