ABOUT THIS RESOURCE
In 2006 The Financial Services Authority (FSA) undertook a survey1 into the financial capability of the adult population of the UK. One of the four main themes to emerge was that most people are not planning ahead well enough. For example, saving sufficiently for their retirement or putting money aside to cope with an unexpected drop in income. The under-20s performed worse in this area than any other age range.
pfeg (Personal Finance Education Group), the UK's leading finance education organisation, commissioned research to further understand how financial planning could be supported. This included teacher and student panels and online research with 1,500 young people.
Following this research, the need for an interactive, engaging resource for young people about pensions became clear. Respondents asked for a resource that:
- is relevant to young people's lives with real-life topics to which they can easily relate to
- explores the implications of different financial decisions young people may make
- is user friendly to teachers, flexible to adapt to their needs and to those of the students
- improves teachers' confidence in this area of personal finance education
- provides young people with a resource that they can also use outside the classroom.
www.2070launchyourlife.org aims to improve understanding among 14-18 year olds in the UK about the need for, and value of, long-term financial lifestyle planning.
www.2070launchyourlife.org is designed to achieve a wide range of teaching and learning objectives by encouraging young people to imagine their future world. Students will draw on current and projected trends in the economy, population, health, leisure, technology and family life to imagine what their lives will be like in 40 or 50 years' time, to help them to develop a positive attitude towards long-term financial planning.
There are several separate but complementary sections to the resource:
- A web-based interactive simulation to help students think about and plan for their future
- 'Diamond 9' challenges
- Standalone PDF activity sheets
- Videos related to long-term financial planning, and the opportunity for teachers to upload students' own videos
- A glossary
- The News feed and Twitter feed, which will help to stimulate class discussion about current events
Delivering the material in schools with less-extensive ICT access
- The PDF activity sheets can be printed .
- The Diamond 9 quizzes and Life simulator can be run as whole-class activities on an interactive whiteboard/projector. See the section on the Life simulator for more information about how to deliver the game using an IWB.
- The glossary is also available in the teachers' notes; it can be printed and given to the class.
- Videos can be watched on an interactive whiteboard/projector.
1Financial Capability in the UK: Establishing a Baseline, 2006