Money Education / Financial Literacy: It seems that money is fast becoming the nation’s most uncomfortable topic. Research from Scottish Widows shows that we’d rather talk about sex and health than money.

One in three adults – or around 12.4 million people – refuse to plan their finances at all, and those that do find the time to review them set aside a miserly five minutes a week.

Recent research estimates that 50% of people don’t have a will.

A quarter of Brits (25%) have no idea how much they spend in a week, and a similar number (26%) have no idea of their monthly cash flow. This lack of knowledge extends into other financial aspects of life. Only half (51%) the population know the balance on their credit cards and nearly half (46%) have no idea what interest rates they receive on their savings or are paying on their accounts and debts.

Around 15 per cent of 18 to 24- year-olds think an individual savings account (ISA) is an iPod accessory, and one in 10 reckon it's an energy drink. With rising personal debt levels in Britain, and a lack of long-term savings, better money management seems a pressing issue.

Savings:  Over one in four (27%) have no savings at all – and a further one in four (25%) have less than £3,000 – meaning that the savings pot of more than half of all households in the UK will last less than three months.

Over 7.5 million people only save money for short-term goals and about 3 million describe themselves as ‘frivolous spenders’ - making purchases based solely on desirability rather than affordability.  For every financially aware person there are two frivolous spenders who spend for today with no thought to tomorrow - the buy now, think later culture.

Half the population (52%) could survive financially for just 17 days, should they suffer an unexpected loss of income, according to research by Combined Insurance.

Thank you to Oliver Downing of the Insolvency Network for this information www.insolvencynetwork.co.uk