What do girls need to be taught about careers/financial matters?

[poshsnobtwit]

This obviously applies to boys and girls, but I'm doing a talk for teen girls so I'm asking about girls specifically. Many times on the careers advice/how to earn £100k threads I've seen posters saying "I wish I knew that when I was young...they don't teach you this in school" and I'm trying to remember what these things were but can't recall a lot of them What I do remember:

1. Working backwards - look at salaries and see what careers fall into this bracket, then choose a career path
2. A salary x3 higher does not mean x3 take home pay
3. The sky's the limit vs the glass ceiling
4. You don't need to be passionate about your work (although it helps)
5. Hard work does not necessarily result in success

Can anyone suggest anything else they wish they had have known, or think is important? Not necessarily positive things, reality is fine too. These are teen girls, from a range of backgrounds, from children of asylum seekers to medical consultants.

I would include a section on debt and credit cards etc if it’s about finance generally

Oh and pensions!

What National Insurance is
Show them how tax is calculated for a hypothetical salary.
Explain that lots of working people are in benefits so they understand that benefits does not equal scrounger.
Maybe a talk on student loans ?
Explaining payday loans and what happens if you don’t pay Klarna type services on time
What is a credit score?

If you have to get the answers from MNet, may I gently venture that perhaps you shouldn't be giving the talk.

As early as possible.
Please add to the curriculum ‘never allow yourself to be 100% financially dependent on a man. Show them MN as case studies for how that can go wrong.

I knew there would be at least one response saying this . My topic is not actually centred on finances, but these are points I want to bring in.

Thanks everyone for the replies, all very helpful. It might be relevant that the majority of this group are BAME, so if there's any advice that might be specific in this area that would be very much appreciated too.

Your career does not become optional if/when you have children. Nor should you contemplate having a child with anyone for whom it is.

Some of these may be controversial ...

If you are good in maths, develop that skill and work that furrow. Maths-based jobs, which include computing, are better paid because that skill is rarer and those jobs are more male oriented, hence better pay. Don't assume that as a woman you have to do a caring, teaching or hospitality job, which tend to be more female oriented and hence lower pay.

Don't rely on a partner to fund your lifestyle. Always have a skill and experience that will allow you to support yourself.

Grab your opportunities to learn and advance early in your career. Put in the hard yards when you are young and have no dependents. Then if and when you do decide to have children and want to take a backseat, it is easier to negotiate flexi, part time and WFH when you have valuable skills and a level of seniority.

Try to stay in your career and not take your foot off the pedal even if it means coasting part time whilst the dcs are young. The pension will put you in good stead for retirement. The seniority will make promotions easy once you are ready to gear up when the dcs are older.

Children need their parents as much if not more when they are teenagers, emotionally and financially. Parenting is a long game. You are doing your best for your dcs even if you continue working during the pre-school years. Nowadays the bank of mum and dad (BOMAD) makes a huge difference to whether your children can buy a property.

For financial advice, put money in a pension immediately - the magic of compound interest and returns. Use your ISA allowance. Don't just put your money in cash deposits. Stocks and shares have a greater return over the medium to long term than interest on cash, which will barely hold its value against inflation.

Definitely illustrate how compound interest works over time.

Financial benefits of marriage, particularly if earning less than husband, and especially if having children.

Always have enough funds to be able to walk away from a bad relationship/marriage.

Apprentiships in not so popular careers. My 23 year old daughter works in construction on £50k thanks to her apprenticeship.

Add financial disadvantage of marriage as well please!

Independence is important.

There is no such thing as a common law marriage/wife/husband in the UK.

If you choose to get married, ensure your marriage is recognized in British law as well as in your religion.

How much does that (insert item of choice) matter cost? How much does it cost on a credit card? How much does it cost in hours of work?

These are the bills you have to pay to live, now put them in your own order of priority - rent/mortgage, savings for house deposit, gas, electricity, water, council tax, phone, broadband, food, clothing.

What other regular bills are you likely to have - pensions, subscription tv, car payment, insurance - phone/home/contents/car/appliance/pet/health, childcare, school fees, etc.

Personally, having done something similar, I’d ask them to imagine their dream lifestyle and then a reasonable/average lifestyle and everything that entails. Cost it out. Then compare it to the national average. Then consider careers that are likely to afford their chosen lifestyle.

Bear in mind that in my version, there was homework and we were able to discuss it afterwards in a second session.

Attain financial independence before shacking up with a partner and always keep enough of your own savings to help yourself if it goes south and you want / need to end a relationship. Don’t be totally financially dependent on a partner.

Put a high value on your own expertise. You may choose to be generous with it but don't allow others to exploit or devalue it.
Choose a partner who has similar values around work and money.

It is great to plan out your career but be aware that unexpected things will always happen in both work and family life so be ready to be flexible. Sometimes you have to go the long way round.

Also about recognising your own definition of success
And that if you think at the back of your mind you may want kids some
Day it's worth thinking about how to plan for working and a family.
My dear mum was a housewife and totally reliant on my dad and assumed I would be too, so no one taught me about that stuff

Don’t be totally financially dependent on a partner.

This! For both men and women.

That childcare and maternity leave can be expensive. That if they have a child they may want to be at home more even if they think now they won't, and it would be wise to plan for that possibility.

I taught mine about different types of bank accounts like ISAs, taxation and interest rates. Important also they understand borrowing. I was brought up never to borrow and that worked well for me. How to live on a budget. Bills, how to get cheapest or best supplier. Pensions. Pay slips. I would encourage them to do a job they love but be aware of pay and qualifications needed and typical lifestyle. Cost of kids and impact on career and that any choice is fine re childcare. Redundancy payouts. Student loans and interest. Buying property, stamp duty, long term returns. Stock market investment, personally just do via pension but then tied up to 57 or so but tax back. Impact of ill health and unemployment. Holiday costs. Running a car costs.

When get higher salary though tax is higher essentials are the same as on a lower salary so more money can be saved and for fun but often a work life balance trade off and a trade off between having child with you or earning and paying childcare. Flexible working. Exchange rates. How to look up best interest rates and review. Getting trades in, how to ensure trustworthy and cost of household work eg new kitchen bathroom.

Hard work generally helps with success but also move on if reaching a dead end in a job. Value yourself.

Look at resilience how if get 50 rejections for a job you keep going, application forms etc, CV, alternative routes to a job like going in grade down and working up.

Life insurance, critical illness and income protection policies are a must

and have a will once you have children

I'm not sure if I were teaching ypumg people about successfully establishing and finding your direction in terms of your career I would be teaching them that the best careers are equally financially rewarding as most seem to be linking above. What a one dimensional set of women this advice will produce. If everyone followed that advice there would be very little culture, no teachers, no nurses.

My advice would be to find your passion work out what you need to fulfill that in terms of qualifications or experience or location and work towards it.

Finances I would work on separately and discuss things like the impact of debt, taxes, budgeting.

The basics of money management and any income will produce a debtfree life. Grappling only for £100k jobs will bring disenchantment, the money doesn't just drop on your lap ypu have to fulfill the role tp get it 40hrs per week. If you don't enjoy it that's quite the slog to retirement.

If you have a blended family with step parents/kids, ensure that you buy a house as tenants in common not as joint owners. Then state in your will that you're leaving 50% of your property/assets to your kids. Name your kids in your will so they receive their inheritance.

There is no guarantee that your partner will leave anything to your kids if the partner inherits it all first. They will most likely prioritise their own kids instead & your kids will lose their rightful inheritance to the step family.

I personally would maintain separate households with my partner if we both had kids with other people. Blood children and relatives always come first over partners for me anyway.