More partnerships should be established between schools and financial experts to help people feel better equipped for managing their money, TV mathematician Bobby Seagull has suggested. The teacher and broadcaster was speaking ahead of National Numeracy Day .
He told the PA news agency: “Because they’ve got a challenging experience of maths at school, they think anything to do with numbers, their mind goes blank. So a lot of people, when they see money, statements, and they see the letters as well, APR , AER , it just means that they have this phobia and they’d just rather not look at it at all, so I think it almost stems from their childhood maths experience at school.
Mr Seagull said some people may just be hoping that “things work out” at the end of the month. He also warned that parents could end up passing on their own phobias about money to children, adding: “The children will see mum and dad not looking at personal finances, hoping that things just work out… so it becomes a vicious cycle.”
Asked if the younger generation have a better understanding of financial jargon than older generations, Mr Seagull told PA: “I would say yes, but nowhere near enough, because we know that young people now, they’re bombarded by much more information.” Asked about the role of parents, he said that, even when adults find numeracy difficult: “It’s OK to admit to children that they find it tricky, but do something about it and do it with them… The thing is having that openness. The more you can have open conversations with children, the more it becomes less taboo.”