Andy Burnham calls for more financial education on ii Family Money Show

Manchester Mayor emphasises the link between financial education and well-being.

• Former Chief Secretary to the Treasury also emphasises link between financial education and well-being
• Says his wife leads on family financial planning admitting he’s “not, if I’m honest, great on that side of things,” given the pressures of politics
• To nominate a teacher for the interactive investor Personal Finance Teacher of the Year Award, email teacher@ii.co.uk
• Teachers can also nominate themselves: email teacher@ii.co.uk with lesson plan and supporting statement

Today, interactive investor, the Manchester headquartered investment platform (the UK’s second-largest) for private investors, speaks to Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. Burnham has called for more financial education in schools, both as a skill for life and because financial literacy helps bring emotional and mental wellbeing.

Speaking to the interactive investor Family Money Show podcast, hosted by leading broadcaster Gabby Logan, when asked if we should formalise financial education on the curriculum to give it more time, Burnham said: “one hundred per cent.”

Mr Burnham added: “It’s a call I get from teenagers in Greater Manchester all the time. They talk about a curriculum for life. The modern world has become a lot more complex, and that they feel they need – and I think they’re right – much more guidance to be able to navigate this complexity and develop a literacy about finance and other things…I remember learning how to make a Victoria sponge…I’ve never made one ever since school…and yet you don’t get taught about the basics of a bank account, do you, or managing a budget?”

He also emphasised the link between personal finances and wellbeing, saying: “I think that the curriculum for life idea should be at the heart of the curriculum. Financial literacy brings emotional and mental well-being... If you don’t give people those skills, I think you're leaving people, young people, quite exposed.”

Mr Burnham also said that in his household, his wife takes the lead on the family finances, following a similar recent comment on the ii Family Money show from Alastair Campbell – on the first episode of series 2.

Asked how his personal financial investments were going, Mr Burnham said: “Well, I am not, if I’m honest, great on that side of things.”

He said that working in politics, “the job is so consuming in terms of what you’ve got to do to support your public role, that sometimes the capacity to do all that stuff is a bit limited.”

Asked if his children would turn to him or his wife for financial advice, he said: “They wouldn’t ring me, that’s an absolute certainty!”

Recognising excellence in financial education across the UK

This timely episode follows interactive investor’s recent launch of the Personal Finance Teacher of the Year Awards 2022, one of the most prestigious awards recognising creative money education. The main prize pot is £25,000, shared out among the winning teachers’ schools. The first 250 teachers who submit an entry will receive a £50 Amazon voucher.

To nominate a teacher, parents, carers, or pupils should email teacher@ii.co.uk with the teacher’s name along with the name and address of the school, by Monday 25th July 2022.

The importance of the levelling up agenda – and inspiring teachers

Almost echoing the credit football legend Ian Wight’s gave to his teacher Mr Pigden, Burnham also speaks on the importance of the inspiration and encouragement he got at school “Well, it was my English Teacher, Steven Harrington, who I met recently actually. It was pretty much all down to him. I never thought I could aspire to Cambridge, and he built me up into a position when I did actually apply.

“It was brilliant on one level, but completely disorienting on another, in that arriving in Cambridge in the late 1980s from the northwest you just couldn't relate the world you'd gone into from the one you'd come from.”

He added: “I loved it as well, but I also had that imposter syndrome that people would have, if their parents hadn't been to university, that feeling that somebody's going to tap me on the shoulder here and throw me out at any given moment. And I was surrounded by these very confident people who spoke in a way that I'd never really heard before, and it took me about, I would say, 18 months, two years to work out they were talking complete rubbish half the time, but it sounded so good for that first few years.”

In just its first year, the ii Family Money Show was featured in the top 20 of the Apple Business chart and secured a place in the top 5 of the Apple Investing chart.

The show also won a prestigious bronze Lovie Award for Best Business Podcast last year – the only truly pan-European awards honouring online excellence.

You can listen to the ii Family Money Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or your usual podcast app – linked below.

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Google Podcasts

Amazon Music

About Gabby

A former international gymnast, Gabby began her broadcasting career in radio in 1992 and joined Sky Sports in 1996 where she quickly established herself as one of their key presenters. She joined ITV in 1998 and during her time at the channel Gabby’s repertoire expanded through presenting various fixtures including The World Cup and Champions League.

In 2004 Gabby hosted Sport Relief for the BBC before joining the corporation in 2007 and continues to be a prolific broadcaster. A prolific writer, she’s been a columnist for The Times and has previously written for The Independent, The Guardian, Glamour and Stylist Magazine.

Currently a patron of the Disabilities Trust, Prince’s Trust and Great Ormond Street, Gabby is also a vice president of Sparks. She lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband and two children.

Personal Finance Teacher of the Year Awards 2022

Interactive investor is calling for help to find Britain’s best money teachers: topics might include budgeting, investment, cash savings, interest rates, credit, and much more, from reception right the way up to sixth form.

To nominate a teacher, parents, carers, or pupils should email teacher@ii.co.uk with the teacher’s name along with the name and address of the school, by Monday 25th July 2022. We will then approach the teacher and ask them to submit their lesson plan and brief supporting statement.

Teachers can also nominate themselves, by emailing teacher@ii.co.uk with a lesson plan and supporting statement by Monday 8th August 2022. For fuller details, including the terms of the competition, click here.

Friends and family

Interactive investor launched its game-changing Friends & Family plan launch late last year. Customers can now offer their friends and family a safe and free initiation into a life of investing. 

For just £5 extra a month, ii customers can each gift up to five people a free subscription to ii. That means that five friends and family can each join ii without paying a monthly subscription fee (otherwise £9.99 per month for ii’s core Investor plan). The offer comes with free regular investing, the full range of investments and exclusive, engaging educational guidance and support.

For customers in ii’s Super Investor subscription price plan, Friends and Family is free.