Martin Lewis helps young people figure out their financial future

TV’s Money Saving Expert, Martin Lewis OBE engaged an audience of Denbigh School Sixth Formers earlier this month, when he visited the School to talk about finance and how best to manage their money.

Martin took the opportunity to talk to the receptive students about the value of getting on the path to financial independence, whilst he was at the School filming with Denbigh staff and students for a new Open University Business School (OUBS) online free personal finance course.

The OUBS’s ‘Managing My Money for Young Adults’ is an eight session course that will be launched in the Autumn to coincide with the 2017/18 academic year. The course is generously funded by The Chartered Accountants’ Livery Company Charity and will follow the timeline of a young person’s typical financial journey, including how young people spend their money and the risks associated with online shopping, the financial consequences of moving into higher education and effective management of personal debt.

It is never too early to start planning for a secure financial future.

It was great today to interact with Denbigh students and talk to them about their concerns for making their money stretch further in higher education and beyond. The advantage of the OU course is that it is free and young people can learn how to successfully manage their finances by downloading the sessions to their mobiles and tablets. Videos, animations and quizzes all add to the fun of the learning experience.

Martin Lewis
award-winning campaigning TV and radio presenter and journalist

It can be daunting for young people navigating their way through the world of banking, pay and taxation and, although it may seem some time off, buying their first property.

This new course is designed to be studied in school or at home and will be available from September, through the OU’s free social learning platform, OpenLearn. Each module will comprise three hours of study time, which can be broken down into separate components, and completion of the course will result in a Certificate of Achievement.

Martin Upton
the OU’s academic lead in the production of the series and Director of the True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance (True Potential PUFin)

For many young people the responsibility of personal finance is something they may think is way off in the future. Martin has demonstrated that our students need to be thinking sooner rather than later about the effective management of their finances, whether they embark on university or start work.

The OU course will be an invaluable resource and we were delighted to offer the expertise and participation of Denbigh’s Careers Officer, Sixth Form Teaching staff and students. Their advice will be instrumental in helping students with the financial challenges young people will face in the five years after they leave school.

Andy Squires
Headteacher at Denbigh School

‘Managing My Money for Young Adults’ is adapted from the original ‘Managing My Money’ course developed by OUBS's award winning True Potential PUFin. The Centre’s courses have already helped over 260,000 people, and with the generous support of The Chartered Accountants’ Livery Company Charity, will now reach young people at the point of need, to support the early development of money management skills.

Links

• True Potential PUFin
• Managing My Money on OpenLearn
• Managing My Money on FutureLearn
• True Potential LLP website