Many of us will remember the time when we first become responsible for our personal finances. For those of a certain age, this may have meant simply opening a bank account and then making sure that there was more going into the account than was coming out.
Times have certainly changed. The availability of cheap finance and the move towards a cashless society has meant that those taking responsibility for their financial affairs for the first time, are now confronted with myriad of financial products all claiming to provide real benefits to their users.
Whilst options should always be welcomed, what are the risks associated with each? Can we be certain, for instance, that an 18 year old truly understands the meaning of compound interest and the responsibilities that they have for debt?
In partnership with Stellar Education, Gallagher is looking to plug that knowledge gap to help young people better understand the risks associated with making personal financial decisions
Stellar Education was the first UK SKILLSFIRST accredited training provider to offer an insight into the world of finance. Having been very successful with their initial accredited courses in Financial Trading, Stellar have now turned their attention to tackling a real lack of understanding of personal financial management in the young.
Stellar has created Level 1 and Level 2 accredited qualifications to help those in full time education gain a better understanding of personal financial management. The qualifications are accredited by SKILLSFIRST, who are in turn regulated by OFQUAL, and are designed to impart knowledge about financial products and offer learners a greater context of numeracy within everyday life. Gallagher is keen to support anything which would help the management of personal risk and see these courses as a useful addition to any curriculum. All Level 1 courses are Adult Education Board (AEB) funded.
All training is delivered online using a bespoke learning management system. Qualifications are awarded through an online examination, utilising a unique Invigilation System. The systems cannot be cheated or manipulated and meet the strict guidelines set by awarding organisation SKILLSFIRST.
The core objectives of the courses are
- Finance Awareness for School leavers and other Students – gap in current national curriculums to address this. The course covers budgeting, savings & investments, debt, investing and bank accounts. That knowledge lays a foundation for students to build strong money habits early on and avoid many of the mistakes that lead to lifelong money struggles.
- Maintaining Personal Wellbeing - One in four adults will have a mental health problem at some point in their life, and this can often be linked with mismanagement of money . As such, this course has been developed to address this & other wellbeing concerns and dovetails in perfectly with the finance courses.
Apart from the obvious benefits of learning these key life skills, the young would derive from achieving an accredited course to enhance their CV and aid their employability. Educators would also benefit by actively managing their duty of care to their students in areas not traditionally associated with education, but in areas where risk could arguably be growing.
If you wish to find out more about these courses, please contact us via your Gallagher representative.
