The United Kingdom is trailing behind other developed countries when it comes to understanding basic financial terminology, according to a recent study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
When it comes to financial literacy, the UK is trailing behind Estonia, Latvia and 12 other countries. The human impact of this is all too real, with many consumers making poor financial decisions due to simple lack of knowledge & information – decisions which can affect an individual for the rest of their lives.
Bridging the Knowledge Gap
True Potential Investor, a personal pension provider and ISA investor specialist that has partnered with the Open University hoping to address this knowledge gap. Part of the Open University Business School, The True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance (PUFin) hopes to “develop financial knowledge on a general and personal level”.
True Potential Investor invested £1.4 million into the True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance for research and to establish a series of free personal finance courses, including Managing My Money, Managing My Investments and Managing My Financial Journey. Together, the courses improve the core areas of personal finance, investments and financial service providers.
The newest course to be made available is Finance Fundamentals: Financial Planning and Budgeting, which highlights financial attitudes in our current economy and how to change bad habits. It has been designed to help households make better decisions with their money. There’s no need to attend classes in person – the material can be accessed online through the FutureLearn educational platform and the Open University’s OpenLearn platform.
So far the courses have attracted some 200,000 sign-ups, underlining just how in-demand this type of financial knowledge is in the UK and the sheer scale of the knowledge gap.
If you are interested in taking part in a free finance course, you can fins more information True Potential Investor website.
