8 valuable financial lessons to share with your children and grandchildren

As teenagers across the UK nervously await their GCSE and A Level results, many will be putting their schooldays behind them.

While these exams are a great springboard into the next stage of life, there’s plenty that school doesn’t teach us, in particular about money management.

Financial education has been on the national curriculum since 2014, in secondary schools in England, and in both primary and secondary education in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

The reality, however, is that financial education is sparse and inconsistent. A debate in the House of Commons in early 2025, reported on by the Chartered Institute of Taxation, revealed that 55% of teachers responsible for implementing the national curriculum were either unaware of the requirement, or unsure of whether there was a requirement to teach financial education. Perhaps more importantly, 62% of children had no recollection of having received any.

So, as parents and grandparents, it could fall to you to talk to the young people in your life about finances.

Here are eight valuable financial lessons they likely won’t learn in school.

1. Set your goals and priorities

Having a clear idea of what you want from life can help you spend on, and save for, the things that really matter to you.

For your children or grandchildren, it could be saving for student life, others might be keen to get on the property ladder, or some could simply want to travel before they settle into a job.

2. Pay yourself first

For many young people, money is there to be spent. But if they tend to spend everything they have, they’ll quickly find that they don’t have much in the way of savings.

When they start earning, they could adopt a “pay yourself first” approach and put a regular amount aside into a savings account.

It doesn’t matter how much this is. But it can help to avoid falling into the trap of trying to save what’s left at the end of the month, as this could be negligible or non-existent.

3. Track your spending

The more money we have, the more we tend to spend, in a phenomenon known as “lifestyle creep”. While it’s perfectly understandable to treat yourself with your first pay packet or when you get a pay rise, it can also be tempting to simply spend more all the time.

Whether it’s a more expensive brand of shampoo, buying lunch instead of making it, or a daily coffee, small things can really add up. This can put you in a position of spending as fast as you earn, or even getting into debt.

Talk to your children or grandchildren about keeping track of their spending. This can be eye-opening: adding up the £5 a day on lunch over a year can run into hundreds of pounds. And when they see that in black and white, it really does hammer home.

4. Set budgets

This fits in with setting priorities and tracking spending. For young people, it’s about looking at their “wants” and “needs”. So, what do they need to spend on, such as rent and bills, and what is more “nice to have”.

Explain to children and grandchildren the value of setting budgets for different areas of their lives, such as socialising, household costs, and savings. This will help them prioritise their spending and feel much more in control.

5. Don’t ignore bills and debts

Debt is a difficult spiral to fall into, as it compounds and becomes worse over time. In fact, according to MoneySavingExpert, borrowing £3,000 from a credit card at 21 and just making the minimum repayment will mean you’ll be almost 50 before it clears.

This is a good lesson to share with young people, showing how easy it could be to overextend themselves and pay much more for purchases than they intend.

6. Be alert to scams

They might not want to hear it, but talk to your children and grandchildren about the old adage: if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Try to educate them on what type of scams are out there, such as:

• • Phishing, an email scam from an apparently legitimate source, with a link taking you to a fake website that collects personal information. Most scammers use a generic opening, such as “Dear Sir/Madam”, while genuine messages tend to use your name. You can also check the email address to see if it’s from a reputable source.
  • Romance fraud, using a fake profile on a dating site from somebody claiming to be from overseas. Once you’ve been chatting for a while, they’ll ask for money for a plane ticket or a sick relative. No matter how convincing they seem, never send money to anyone you haven’t met, send them any financial details, or allow them to access your bank account.
  • Ticket scams, where you buy tickets to a concert or sporting event, but never receive them. Avoid buying from social media or online auction sites, as it can be difficult to trace the seller.

By making your younger family members aware of these common scams, they’ll be better able to protect themselves and their wealth, now and in future.

7. Remember to think about taxes

Benjamin Franklin famously said: “Nothing is certain except for death and taxes.”

Getting your head around tax can be difficult and tempting to avoid, and school likely won’t cover this. So, you could give your child or grandchild a head start by talking about:

• • Income Tax, so they know that their pay packet might not be as large as they were expecting
  • Inheritance Tax (IHT), which could inform future estate planning
  • Capital Gains Tax (CGT), to give them an understanding that profit is taxable
  • Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), useful information to have when they buy their first house.

8. Start saving into your pension early

Saving into a pension can seem like a nuisance for young people, when they could be spending the money right now. But the earlier they start, the bigger their pension pot will be when the time comes.

Legal and General illustrate the power of early saving with the following example, assuming retirement at 65 and a 5% annual growth rate:

• • Saving £100 a month from the age of 22 means a total of £51,600 paid in, which will grow to £175,000.
  • Saving £200 a month from the age of 40 means a total of £60,000 paid in, which will grow to £117,000.

Even though the second person contributes more, this shows the value of long-term growth and compounding.

Get in touch

When it comes to learning about managing money, these are great, simple tips to talk through with the young people in your life, helping them navigate the often-complicated world of personal finances.

If you’d like to bring your children or grandchildren into a meeting and find out more about financial planning in real time, we’d be happy to help.

Email us at info@harperlees.co.uk or call 01277 350560 to find out more, and we’ll be very happy to help.

Please note

This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.

All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.

A pension is a long-term investment not normally accessible until 55 (57 from April 2028). The fund value may fluctuate and can go down, which would have an impact on the level of pension benefits available. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

The tax implications of pension withdrawals will be based on your individual circumstances. Thresholds, percentage rates, and tax legislation may change in subsequent Finance Acts.

Workplace pensions are regulated by The Pension Regulator.

The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate estate planning, cashflow planning or tax planning.