7 July 2026 The financial literacy gap: turning inequality into opportunity

Financial understanding and confidence are key drivers of social mobility, supporting young people to make informed decisions about education, work and long-term wellbeing. However, young people from under-served communities are often behind their peers in financial knowledge, limiting their ability to achieve stability and security later in life.

At The Talent Foundry, we work to address inequality and support a fairer future. Financial education is central to our work, helping young people develop the skills and confidence they need to make informed decisions about their future careers and finances.

Unequal access to financial knowledge

Research shows that financial skills are often shaped by background. Studies have found that the financial skills of 15-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds can be four years behind their more affluent peers. Opportunities to learn about money early in life are often unevenly distributed – many cite parents as being a primary source of financial information, but this dynamic can reproduce inequality when parents have also faced barriers to building financial capability.

Despite financial education being included in the national curriculum a decade ago, only 26% of young adults report receiving financial education at school, and only 13% felt these lessons were applicable to real life. Many young people report never having created a budget, paid a bill or planned for unexpected costs.

Approximately four million young people leave school each year without a fundamental understanding of money management. An individual’s social mobility can hinge on their financial literacy and confidence.

Young people want to understand money better

Demand for financial knowledge is high, however, and 80% of teenagers reportedly want to learn more about money and finances. Over half say they want to improve their financial situation but don’t know where to start. Anxiety around money affects some groups disproportionately, including girls, young people eligible for free school meals and those from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Young people are motivated, but provision of financial education is not consistently meeting their needs – especially for those already facing geographical or structural barriers.

Why financial confidence matters

Financial literacy doesn’t just mean understanding technical terms, it’s about feeling able to make informed decisions, ask questions, weigh up risks and plan for a more secure future. With one in 10 UK adults reporting low financial capability, something has to change. A lack of financial confidence can compound inequality – financial education for young people is therefore key to achieving social mobility.

Creating opportunity through financial education

Young people want to understand money better, and the consequences of inaction – for young people and wider economic mobility – are significant. Equipped with knowledge and confidence, young people are better positioned to make choices that will affect their future careers and financial wellbeing.

At The Talent Foundry, we deliver bespoke workshops that engage students in hands-on ways to learn about financial concepts in real life contexts. This gives young people agency over their lives, driving social mobility and opening doors to a breadth of opportunities.

Young people, after attending our programmes, report feeling more capable of managing money, more aware of long-term financial planning and more open to exploring career pathways they had not previously considered – in banking, finance and beyond. Anxiety around money is reduced through activities that encourage students to practise budgeting, debate investment decisions and explore risk in a supportive environment – one that makes finance about their everyday lives, not abstract concepts.

Practical financial education helps spark ambition and unlock opportunity for young people, enabling them to plan for a more secure future.

To find out more about how we build students’ confidence and financial understanding, visit our programmes page.