Real life: What I’ve learnt about money at school vs my pocket money app

Quizzing my Gen A son about what he’s really learnt about money.

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Kate Steere

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Ever wondered what your child is actually learning at school? I decided to sit down with my 11-year-old, Joshua, and find out what he’s learnt about money at school vs his money app, GoHenry. It looks like we may have a little bit more to learn about interest!
KateJosh
What have you learned about money at school?
That it’s good to make a budget and plan. But to be honest, they don’t really teach us about money at school. My teachers only bring it up in certain maths questions involving money, and then we only talk about it for 5 to 10 minutes.
Have you done any lessons about saving or spending money?
Not focusing just on money. It’s brought up more in maths, and there was nothing that my teachers said that was worth remembering.
Have your teachers talked about things like bank accounts or pocket money?
Yes, they’ve talked about how it’s good to be mindful of what’s going on in your bank account.
And what about pocket money?
They haven’t really talked about pocket money. They’ve talked more about credit and debit cards and bank accounts. More of the adult perspective of using money, not using money right now.
Do you learn more about money from school or your money app?
I learn more through my money app, GoHenry, because it has Money Missions (bite-sized financial education quizzes), which are more beneficial than what the teachers are giving us.
What features of your money app have helped you learn about money the most?
The Money Missions and just the way they do them. They give really detailed videos and good questions at the end.
Are there any other features you use day-to-day with your app that have also helped you?
I go on it regularly to check my balance and also to check my savings.
Do you think having things like automatic savings helps?
Yes, those are handy. So, for example, I have this saving goal called Naruto, and every week it takes my allowance and puts it in that.
Which feature do you use most often?
It used to be Money Missions, but then I finished all of them. So now, I would probably say it’s checking the balance of my savings and my savings goals.
Which feature do you think you could use more?
I could pay attention to the tasks feature more, because I’ve sort of been ignoring that recently. I get 50p for feeding the cats or £1 for cleaning my room. I want to do the cats, not clean my room!
The idea is that you do both!
Do you think school should teach you more about money?
Yes, I think it’d be good. Like I said, they do the adult bit, but I feel they should talk more about kids’ money topics because we are kids.
What would you like to learn about in the future though?
In the future, I would like to know how to get a credit card and all the stuff you need to be wary of.
I’m glad you said that second part, you had me worried there for a second!
What’s your favourite thing that you’ve learned about money?
Interest. You’re just getting free money!
If it’s being paid on your savings, because you know it’s the other way around if you borrow money. You have to pay it.
Yes, I know that.
Where did you learn about interest?
It’s from you showing me on the GoHenry app. On my £100 savings, I get about 89p in interest each month (I pay Joshua a parent-paid rate of interest of 10%, lucky boy!). So, depending on the amount I have in my savings, that will determine the interest I get.
So that will continue to grow, won’t it?
Yeah, but if I have nothing in my savings, then I still get a minimum of 2p.
You have to have at least something in your savings for that to happen. You can’t earn interest on nothing.
It happened!
It doesn’t work like that.
Oh wait, it’s because I had £2 in my savings, so I got 1p interest.
Exactly – as long as you’ve got some money in there, you can earn some interest on it.

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Bottom line: The money app wins

Having spoken to Joshua, it’s clear that he’s keen to learn more about money, and he’s making good use of the features on his GoHenry app, like the automated savings and the learning resources such as Money Missions. Of course, I would like him to use the tasks feature a bit more, but at least he knows it’s there!

What’s also clear is that what he’s learning about money at school is not making much of an impression on him. It’s encouraging to hear that there is some financial education, but it doesn’t seem to be enough. While we wait for financial education to catch up with what kids want, we’ll continue to use GoHenry – and maybe give Joshua a little refresher on how savings interest works!

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GoHenry: where kids go to learn money

Kids learn to earn, save, spend and invest with pocket money, custom savings goals, gifted money from family and friends, gamified lessons and more. Give your child the head start you wish you’d had, with their own smart money app and card. Get 2 months free plus £20 pocket money with code AFFFDR220.

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Kate Steere is an editor and money expert at Finder, specialising in banking, savings and fintech. She has previously written for The Motley Fool UK and Fitch Solutions, where she covered a wide range of personal finance topics and kept a close eye on market trends. Kate has a Bachelor of Arts in Modern History from the University of East Anglia. When not working, she can usually be found curled up with a good book or heading out for a run. See full bio

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Kate has written 187 Finder guides across topics including:
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