A recent study of 5,000 people by the Money Advice Service, a Government backed body, found that the population is increasingly suffering from poor basic financial skills and knowledge.
The survey found that 12% of UK adults thought that the Bank of England’s base rate was over 10%, when in fact its been at a historic low of 0.5% for over 4 years now; 16% could not correctly identify the right balance on a bank statement; and more than 1-in-3 people did not understand the impact of growing inflation on savings.
The Government will soon ramp up its efforts to get the country up-to-speed on its financial knowledge with plans to introduce compulsory financial education in Secondary schools across England.
For millions of us this might be too little too late as we go through life still trying to understand what on earth an APR is.
