Nearly half of Edinburgh people lack basic financial literacy, new study reveals

new study has revealed how a lack of financial education has left people across the United Kingdom confused by their own money with detrimental effects on their confidence, mental health and financial wellbeing.

Investment app Freetrade created the Great British Financial Literacy Test – 18 questions about savings, investment, ISAs and retirement that everybody will likely encounter at some point in their lives.

How did Britons perform in the financial literacy test?

Asking 2,000 British people to complete the test, Freetrade discovered that almost half of them (48%) could not answer basic questions about personal finance including what an ISA stands for, the difference between fixed rates and variable rates, and what your annuity provider does when you retire.

Retirement was the area of personal finance that people struggled to understand the most with 80% of Brits unable to correctly answer this part of the test. This figure was 81% among respondents aged 55+ approaching retirement age.

The pass rates for questions about investment were the second lowest at 44%. This was followed by savings at 34% and ISAs at 32%.

Do British people lack confidence in their finances?

Equally as alarming as the low pass rates across the UK were people’s lack of confidence around aspects of personal finance. Overall, 88% of Brits say they lack confidence with their money, and one third of Britons (32%) said this also led to a negative impact on their mental health.

An overwhelming majority of respondents (91%) told Freetrade they lack confidence in investment. 90% of Brits similarly lack confidence in managing their retirement money, according to the study. 88% of the UK also lack confidence when it comes to ISAs.

Dan Lane, senior analyst at Freetrade, said: “The greatest advantage you can give your investments is time. So it’s concerning that the cohort with the most time on their hands feels so ill-equipped.

“Whether we realise it or not, investing early on in life could be the difference between reaching our eventual financial goals or missing them entirely. Getting to grips with the basic concepts later in life might just be too late.

“There should be alarm bells ringing about the fact that 90% of Brits lack confidence with their pensions. With advances in medical technology and increased life expectancies we’re likely to live longer in retirement than ever before.

“But a massive gap in our understanding of how to invest for our third age, or even how to access those investments suitably later on, means we really aren’t prepared for a sizable portion of our lives. Unless we’re thinking about investing for retirement long before we get there, we could end up in the awful position of regretting the simple financial decisions we made 30 years ago.

“It’s a real sign of the nation’s lack of financial education when a huge portion of the population doesn’t know the name of one of the most common savings products. The frustrating thing about the lack of confidence around ISAs is just how helpful, accessible and easy to use ISAs can be. Chances are, if we’re unsure about the headline facts around ISAs, we’re not using them to help us as much as we could.”

Which areas of the UK have the highest and lowest financial literacy rates?

Brighton was the city discovered to be the most financially literate, according to Freetrade’s study. Pass rates there were 55%, much higher than the national average. Sheffield, however, was discovered to be the city with the lowest financial literacy with only a 47.6% pass rate.

The five highest and lowest scoring cities in the UK are:

Top 5 CitiesPass RateBottom 5 CitiesPass Rate
Brighton55%Sheffield47.6%
Manchester54.1%Belfast48.5%
Edinburgh53.8%Birmingham51.8%
Southampton53.5%Nottingham51.9%
Cardiff53.5%London52.4%

Dan Lane, senior analyst at Freetrade, continued: “There are regional differences on show but the overall takeaway is that we still need a greater focus on financial literacy all across the UK.

“Basic concepts like compound interest might be ticked off in the National Curriculum but setting us up to deal with that in the real world takes more than a textbook exercise.

“These results should be a wake-up call for the nation’s education system to equip young people well enough to put theory into practice.”

Where are we turning to for financial education?

Struggling to understand finance, Britons are turning to the internet for help. 23% of us make Google their first stop for learning about personal finance—the most popular answer among respondents. The second most common answer was social media with 16% of people saying they would get financial education from platforms like Instagram, TikTok or Facebook.

Dan Lane, senior analyst at Freetrade, concluded: “Young people are taking their future into their own hands and being proactive in addressing the gap in their financial knowledge.

“The results show that previous generations have clearly muddled through to retirement without ever getting a firm grip on their money management and the youngest Brits have said enough is enough.

“Social media can make the headlines for the strangest of reasons but dismissing these platforms means ignoring the truly valuable educational content young people are finding on them. These are free resources and guidance tools dealing with money matters in a way that engages and informs a generation who left school without a firm financial foundation.

“Those who diminish the efficacy of these resources have to ask themselves ‘what else is on offer to help?’”

COVID-19 causes motorist anxiety and stress levels to rocket while confidence drops

  • IAM RoadSmart study finds that one-in-five drivers and riders are more anxious about being on the road since lockdown
  • More than four-in-five motorists felt they weren’t getting the mental health support they needed and admitted to ‘suffering in silence’
  • Almost two thirds of people are worried about giving someone a lift from the fear of catching COVID-19
  • Further periods off the road, such as a local lockdown or a second national lockdown, could have road safety implications, warns the road safety charity

One-in-five drivers and riders are more anxious about being on the road since the start of lockdown, a study by IAM RoadSmart has discovered.

With local lockdowns becoming increasingly common and the ever-present risk of a further national lockdown over the coming months, the UK’s largest independent road safety charity is concerned that increased anxiety, stress levels and diminished confidence levels in day-to-day driving could be triggered by a second prolonged period off the road, which could have road safety implications.

More than eight-in-10 motorists surveyed admitted to ‘suffering in silence’ after feeling they weren’t getting the support they needed to deal with feelings of anxiety brought on by the lockdown. This figure may rise in the event of further lockdowns, presenting an even greater road safety risk after a second spell of limited travelling.  

Of the 1,000 people surveyed, 65 per cent felt worried about offering someone, like a friend or colleague, a lift in their car or on their motorcycle, from fear of catching COVID-19.

The anxiety findings reflect insight from a leading expert in driver and rider behaviour Professor Alex Stedmon, a cognitive psychologist who works as an independent transport consultant at Open Road Simulation Ltd.  His expertise has highlighted how the skill of driving or riding is unlikely to have disappeared over lockdown, but that confidence and familiarity might.

Professor Stedmon said: “Simply put, the brain works on two levels. It has short-term or working memory, which has a small capacity and focusses on what you’re doing at that precise moment, and everything else is long-term memory, the place where we transfer the processes that make up our skills – such as driving.

“The mechanics of driving or riding aren’t going to evaporate over lockdown, but the confidence and familiarity of driving a car or riding a motorcycle might, which could lead to increased levels of anxiety.”

Richard Gladman, IAM RoadSmart’s Head of Driving and Riding Standards, said: “Confidence is a major factor in how we drive or ride, particularly for those who have been driving or riding less in recent months.

“A loss of confidence can increase anxiety which in turn puts us at greater risk of being involved in an incident on the road.

“The good news is there are some simple things we can all do to make sure we maintain our confidence and minimise the risk of anxiety creeping in when we are driving or riding. As the foundation to all safer driving and riding, these reflect a common-sense approach that is easy to make part of your everyday driving and riding.

“Through planning and preparation before your journey, staying focused on the road and avoiding distractions and by sharing the road considerately with all other road users, being mindful of our limits and taking time to get the basics right, we can all stay sharp and keep safe.”

Further findings from the survey also reveal the different attitudes towards stress and anxiety levels in the UK regions.

The increased number of cyclists on the road is causing motorists in Scotland the most stress, with almost half (46 per cent) of people admitting this, followed closely by 41 per cent of people in the South East.

While 39 per cent of people in Northern Ireland have found more pedestrians on the roads and pavements the greatest source of stress and increased anxiety levels since the start of lockdown.

In the West Midlands, 54 per cent of motorists were most concerned about the standards of other people’s driving following a long break off the roads throughout lockdown, followed closely by 44 per cent of motorists in the South West who also had the same concerns.

In Wales, 75 per cent of motorists, and in London 67 per cent of motorists, were most worried about catching COVID-19 from giving someone a lift in their car or on their bike.

IAM RoadSmart offers a range of driver and rider assessments and skills refreshers as well as Advanced Driver and Rider courses.

Richard added: “Anyone who feels they have lost confidence or feels more anxious about taking to the roads will find a refresher of the basics now could help reduce stress and prepare them for whatever the future holds in terms of driving and riding.

“It could also improve wellbeing and mental health, something that is more important than ever in these uncertain times. All in-car training adheres to government social distancing guidelines.”

More work, less teaching, hostile media and an unsupportive government – teachers report on a term like no other

Exhausted’ staff try to recover from summer term, but few anticipate opportunity to switch off and relax

Lockdown and home learning has presented huge challenges for parents and children, but how have teachers fared?

As the school holidays begin, they have been reflecting on the strangest term in their careers – and they say that it was a period of significantly increased workload, but less actual teaching.

And most believe there is little prospect of a stress-free summer break, with a number starting preparation for the next academic year as soon as schools have broken up. 

A survey of hundreds of primary school teachers by lesson resources experts PlanBee revealed that 60 percent of primary school teachers had seen a marked increase in their workload during the summer term, compared to previous years, as schools scrambled to introduce completely new ways of learning in a matter of just weeks.

This chimes with the report from the National Foundation for Education Research found that, overall, 90 per cent of parents whose children were not attending school in April 2020, reported receiving some school work to complete at home. At least 94 per cent of primary pupils received school work. Close to half of primary (42 per cent) received at least three offline lessons a day. 

For 40 percent of recipients to the PlanBee survey, lesson planning and preparation took the majority of the additional time, while for a quarter of respondents, it was communicating with parents.

But 32 percent said the time they spent on actual teaching had fallen, while 39 percent said they had done less marking and feedback. 

Over half report feeling well supported by their schools as they grappled with the demands of the summer term. On a scale of 1-5, with five being the highest rating, 51 percent gave their schools top marks, feeling ‘very supported’. 

But the media’s reporting of changes to schools, and the role of teachers, were an area of conflict. Nearly half (49 percent) of respondents gave journalists the lowest ranking on a scale of one to five. 

The government, too, could do better. Nearly 40 percent of primary school teachers gave ministers the lowest ranking, saying they didn’t feel supported. And only 2 percent gave the government top ranking, reporting that they felt ‘very supported’.

Are holidays a time of rest and recuperation for the teaching profession? Apparently not. Most described themselves as ‘exhausted’ – with one respondent saying it ‘was a different type of exhausted’ from other years.

Many reported being ‘relieved’ the term was over. Some 42 percent had already started preparation for next academic year during the summer term, predicting that lesson planning would occupy by far the biggest draw on their time. Over a quarter of respondents (27 percent) said there preparation for next term begin at the start of the holiday.

One respondent commented: ‘There is far too much prep and planning we need to recharge over the summer. Especially mentally.’

‘Part of me enjoys getting things ready for a new school year,’ said another, ‘but part of me resents the time I spend doing this that could be spent with my family.’

Another complained that it is ‘portrayed in the media that we have six weeks off!’.

This snapshot is backed by a survey from Education Support carried out during the summer term which found that as school closures, home teaching and learning continued, over half (59 per cent) of primary school teachers said they are feeling higher stress levels than usual.

Some 10 percent of PlanBee survey respondents say that they will have no opportunity at all to relax and switch off from school during the holidays while 27 percent rated their chances at two, on a one-to-five scale, with five being the best chance of putting school work behind them. Just 9 percent ranked their chances of switching off at five, the highest level.

Teacher back at school after covid-19 quarantine and lockdown, disinfecting desks at break time.

Catherine Lynch of PlanBee said: ‘The survey findings, which were gathered just as term was ending, provide a really interesting snapshot of the state of the profession – ‘exhausted’, in a word.

“The government made huge demands of teachers during lockdown and the results are clear to see. Teachers are used to being tired at the end of the school year,  but this year is clearly different in terms of what the term has taken out of them and their feelings of trepidation at the prospect of what the next one will bring.’

The Scottish Government is expected to confirm 11th August as the return to school date later today.

Perfect plants for relieving stress

Stressed out Scots are being offered advice on the best plants to have in their home and garden. Gardening experts at GardeningExpress.co.uk have put together their top plants for creating a less stressful environment.

Well known stress relievers all make the list including Lavender, Chamomile, Jasmine and Evening Primrose. Other less well known but just as effective include Peppermint, Areca Palm, and even Aloe Vera, which is more commonly used for its soothing and healing properties.

A spokesperson for GardeningExpress.co.uk said: “Life is stressful enough, so anything natural we can add to our gardens or inside our home to alleviate some of that has to be a good thing.

“Plants like Lavender and Chamomile are very easy to grow in the garden and require very little care. As well as having great stress relieving properties, they look and smell amazing too.”

Here are GardeningExpress.co.uk top ten stress relieving plants:

1. Lavender

Just the smell and sight of lavender is enough to calm some people. Lavender oil is great for treating anxiety and depression. They’re also very easy to grow in the garden and picked up for pennies.

2. Peppermint

Peppermint lowers frustration and helps boost alertness. It’s also great at relieving tired or overworked muscles.

3. Chamomile

Drink as a tea and Chamomile will help reduce inflammation. It’s also very well known for easing anxiety and aiding a good night’s sleep.

4. Aloe Vera

Aloe Vera has many medicinal and soothing properties and it’s also one of the most powerful plant air purifiers around. The plant is great to have around if you suffer from anxiety and helps relieve worry and stress.

5. Rosemary

Often using in cooking, Rosemary improves air quality, memory function, reduces stress and alleviate anxiety.

6. Areca Palm

This air purifying palm removes any unwanted toxins and adds moisture to the air. Breathing in cleaner air helps to lower anxiety and blood pressure, with positive effects on our mental health and wellbeing.

7. Chrysanthemum

As well as adding a splash of colour to your home, Chrysanthemums are said to purify the air and lessen the symptoms of worry and stress. It also has lots of medicinal properties including the treatment of high blood pressure, colds, headaches and dizziness.

8. Jasmine

Sweet smelling Jasmine helps promote sleep, meaning you feel fresh and alert and much less anxious.

9. Evening Primrose

This yellow wildflower is said to balance hormones. When your hormones are balanced, you should experience less depression and irritability.

10. Sunflowers

The bright yellow head of a beautiful Sunflower is enough to make everyone smile. The seeds also contain tryptophan, an amino acid that produces serotonin, also known as the happy hormone, which helps improve mood.

Can taking a social media holiday benefit your mental health?

Today’s world is dominated by social media and it plays a significant role in our lives – both at work and at home. There are an estimated 2.3 billion social media users globally. But has our need to keep people updated on our every move or thought gone too far? Continue reading Can taking a social media holiday benefit your mental health?

Mental Health: help available for low mood, depression and anxiety

https://youtu.be/5JSYhFO9ItI

People experiencing depression, low mood or anxiety should be encouraged to seek help over the holiday period, the Mental Health Minister has said. Clare Haughey also thanked those who provide help and support to people dealing with mental health problems associated with stress and loneliness during the festive period. Continue reading Mental Health: help available for low mood, depression and anxiety

It’s okay not to be okay

Nobody needs to feel alone this Christmas

Emergency Support

Edinburgh Crisis Centre
(open 24/7) 0808 801 0414
www.edinburghcrisiscentre.org.uk

Social Care Direct 0800 731
6969 for out of hours/holidays.
During office hours call 0131 200 2324

Scottish Domestic Violence Helpline – 0800 027 1234

If you are in danger, call 999 for emergency services.

Someone to talk to:

Samaritans – 116 123 (24/7)
www.samaritans.org

Samaritans local line – 0131
221 9999 (9am-10pm)

Breathing Space 0800 83 85 87 0800 (open 6pm – 2am)
https://breathingspace.scot/

CALM – 0800 58 58 58 (for men, 5pm-12am)
www.thecalmzone.net

The Mix – 0808 808 4994
(under 25s)
www.themix.org.uk

Food banks:

Trussel Trust
The Pilton branch will be closed on Wednesday 2nd January.

Full location, days and time for each foodbank centre can be found at: http://edinburghnw.foodbank.org.uk

Edinburgh City Mission at Granton Parish Church, Edinburgh
Closed on Tuesday 1st January.

Pilton Community Health Project also produced this useful support guide: 

Surviving the holidays 2018