This news service talked to a UK wealth manager as well as drawing on insights from experts about why financial literacy remains a major challenge – and how it can be addressed.

When trillions of dollars and the equivalent are changing hands among generations and wealth is still being created, the need for people to understand wise money management is clear. However, it appears that financial literacy remains a major challenge, even among wealthier individuals. 

The UK is a case in point. Only 8.6 per cent of the UK population received advice on investments, pensions or retirement planning in the past year, according to a 2025 Financial Conduct Authority survey. Just under a third (32.6 per cent) of the UK population is financially literate, compared with 49.8 per cent in Canada and 55.8 per cent in Hong Kong, a 2025 study by the London Foundation of Banking & Finance found. Those figures also suggest that even in the more financially savvy countries, large minorities don’t make the grade.

Tax-funded retirement plans are under strain as populations age, putting more pressure on citizens to provide for retirement. Coupled with geopolitical and economic volatility, the need for a financially literate population is pressing. Last year the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School launched a five-year research programme to address problems caused by a lack of financial literacy. 

It is unwise to assume that financial literacy improves as people become wealthier. 

K Patel, head of wealth management, Handelsbanken Wealth & Asset Management, wrote in 2023 for WealthBriefing about the financial literacy challenge: “Despite a vast array of news sites, sector commentators, social media platforms, industry data and a range of other information sources, confusion and doubt about financial products and the wider financial world are rife throughout the UK population. Many people lack an understanding of even the basic aspects of important financial products, including how they work, how they should be judged, and the language and terminology that are used to promote them.”

Improving financial literacy is a topic that animates Andrew Day (pictured below), director of financial planning at Depledge Strategic Wealth Management, based in Manchester and London. One of his colleagues, Eddy Ainley, a former player for the Siddal rugby team and who now works at the firm, ran in this year’s Manchester Marathon to raise money for the Money Ready charity, which targets financial literacy. Day – who is also no slouch as an athlete – is swimming the Coniston Lake End to End 5.25 miles challenge for Lifeshare (Manchester’s oldest homeless charity) in June. Raising money for causes, including those linked to financial literacy, is a passion. 

Andrew Day

“The number of people who take financial advice, as a share of the population, is low,” he told this publication in a call.

Barriers
Working for financial services for 30 years and forming Depledge 13 years ago, Day said one barrier is that people mentally block out financial challenges. 

“Some people don’t want to make a financial decision on their own and get it wrong…others will just switch off when words such as ‘pension’ or ‘markets’ come up,” he said. 

Another barrier to gaining financial literacy, is the hectic lives people lead with many commitments rolling throughout the week with work, family, sports and leisure commitments, travel and inevitable problems. Often financial planning can be kicked into the long grass. But it’s a topic that will always resurface. 

“Finances will always get back to the top of their inbox, often it will quickly fall back down the pecking order when an urgent issue arrives to be thought about again down the line, often in the holiday periods,” said Day. 

Lack of financial literacy can also lead people to undervalue the need for advice.

“There are a lot of people who are not taking financial advice who would benefit from it. Once a financial plan is implemented and a disciplined ongoing approach is embedded clients feel that this brings a peace of mind and confidence for the future. We often then hear clients say that they wish that they had made the time earlier,” he said. 

Schools need to be part of the conversation.

“Financial learning and economic basics were not on the school curriculum for many people who are grappling with their finances today. Interestingly, in England meaningful financial education (including core financial-planning concepts) will become statutory in schools from September 2028. This is a great step in the right direction and will help future generations, but not a large number of people working in society today who did not get the benefit of the basics in the past,” he said.

International examples
Around the world, the wealth management and banking industry is trying to move the needle on financial education and raising awareness that there is a problem. 

For example, in 2024, Chicago-headquartered Northern Trust partnered with Greenlight Financial Technology, a family fintech company, to serve families better and help the next generation build healthy financial futures. Research conducted by the Northern Trust Institute found that 79 per cent of high net worth families have provided their children with access to financial education, but nearly half (48 per cent) are still concerned about the next generation’s preparedness to manage wealth. In Singapore, a survey of 2,000 Singaporean adults found that only 34 per cent rated their financial literacy as “good” and only 15 per cent said it was “excellent.”

The topic of financial literacy is a specialism of its own – there is even the Journal of Financial Literacy and Wellbeing published by Cambridge University Press. Groups such as the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation have weighed on the topic. In the UK, groups such as the Personal Finance Society seek to raise awareness.

Day says it is important to sow seeds of financial understanding among children.  

“We encourage our clients to bring their children in appropriate stages of financial planning,” he said.

“I have referred some clients to read Family Wealth: Keeping It in the Family by James E Hughes Jr. The book is based around the concept that most families lose wealth not because of markets or tax, but because they fail to prepare the people who inherit it. One insight is to run family wealth as a business incorporating human, intellectual and financial capital into an overall strategy. Another aspect is how families can instil an understanding of business and economics in children. Some of our clients are using apps like HARTinvesting that is best for children between 11 and 18,” he said. The app allows users to trade real UK (FTSE) shares with £50,000 ($67,152) of virtual money, and there are leaderboards and contests to spark user interest.

Day said that AI can be a big benefit. There are tools, for example, showing the path of cashflow, that have tremendous explanatory power, he said.

Low to middling
Asked where the UK stands overall on financial literacy, Day said this is a definite area for improvement. 

“My overall view is that UK financial literacy remains low to middling, with persistent confidence gaps and weak understanding of basic concepts like interest, inflation and risk for a large minority of adults,” Day said. “Despite years of initiatives, progress has been slow and uneven.”

The problem is not primarily about numeracy. 

“It is a context and application problem: people struggle to connect financial concepts to real decisions under pressure (cost-of-living shocks, housing, pensions). Research reveals that financial literacy in the UK remains inadequate across all age groups, though the challenges vary significantly by generation,” he said. 

“Young people are digitally confident but financially shallow, with only around a quarter able to calculate compound interest correctly. Middle-aged adults tend to build knowledge reactively, typically around immediate needs such as mortgages, rather than forming coherent long-term plans. Older adults possess practical experience but are increasingly vulnerable to scams and struggle with modern pension products,” he said. 

Richer doesn’t make you are financially smarter 
Matters aren’t much better among the more affluent members of society, Day said. “High net worth families are often financially experienced but not financially fluent. “While affluent families typically enjoy long-standing relationships with advisors and exposure to sophisticated financial structures, that familiarity rarely translates into genuine understanding. Extreme delegation to family offices, private banks and tax advisors reduces the need to engage with the mechanics of wealth, leaving many as excellent delegators but poor governors.”

There is also a danger that wealth breeds complacency. 

“Overconfidence is a persistent risk, with rising markets and business success frequently masking weak financial judgment. Literacy also tends to deteriorate across generations without deliberate education,” he said.

WB asked Day what books he recommends for those exploring the topic. 

“I’d recommend Eric Tyson's Personal Finance for Dummies, which provides a comprehensive grounding in tax, insurance, estate planning and investment without assuming prior expertise. “For the behavioural side of money, Morgan Housel's The Psychology of Money challenges the assumption that financial success reflects sound decision-making.

“Mihir Desai's How Finance Works offers a framework for evaluating advice and structures, while William Bernstein's The Four Pillars of Investing addresses portfolio construction and the dangers of unnecessary complexity.

“On estate planning, Beyond the Grave and James E Hughes Jr's Family Wealth are considered essential reading for families navigating trusts, governance and intergenerational wealth transfer. Finally, Bill Perkins' Die With Zero encourages wealthy readers to reconsider the purpose of accumulated capital before it is too late,” Day added.