Help! I'm financially illiterate

[Stillwaitingfor]

Hoping someone can help me with where to start understanding the basics about money. I have never liked maths and this has translated to a terror of money related matters. I really want to fix this now I have kids, I really feel like this should be something I can and should accomplish...yet whenever I start to read about it I can't concentrate/don't understand the jargon, get distracted and, frankly, bored.

I'm not terrible with money, in that I have workplace pensions and I'm not in debt. I have pretty much nothing else in the way of personal savings though, and have zero idea about investments etc. I've just had our annual pension scheme trustees report through the post and can't make head nor tail of it.

Is there a good course/book which can help me try to tackle this knowledge gap?

Have a listen to this sample from the audiobook The Meaningful Money Handbook - this sample is from the beginning of the investing section: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/2018/09/21/launching-the-meaningfulmoney-handbook-pt-5/
If that is the sort of thing you want, then that book is available (paperback, Kindle, Audible). There are also podcasts and YouTube videos.

I've just had our annual pension scheme trustees report through the post and can't make head nor tail of it.
Not sure there will be anything that can help you understand some reports that trustees produce! Firstly you need to understand what sort of pension it is - defined contribution, defined benefit... then what the pension is investing in, the underlying assets. With some schemes you may have a choice of what your pension invested in, and some schemes you get no choice at all.

NEST Pensions has a quarterly report (linked from this page of their website): https://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/nest/nestcorporation/investment-approach/fund-factsheets.html
Those are quite easy to read. I look for the 5yr and 10yr annualised returns on the chart for the fund I am in, as that shows what the trend has been over the past 5-10 years. The future may not perform as well, or it may do better, so past performance charts are just an indication of what might happen, not what will happen.

Asset Allocation Charts - these can be useful for seeing what you are invested in, how the investments are spread across the world and across sectors (tech, commodities, property etc).

I'm not terrible with money, in that I have workplace pensions and I'm not in debt.
So what do you want to learn about?

Are you looking at how you can use ISA and Pension to invest for the future?
Are you nearing retirement and looking at how you can plan how you would take money out from investments when you reduce/stop working?

You mention having nothing in savings, so maybe a first step is to create an emergency fund... a pile of money in an easy to access savings account. Three to six months of expenses, so if you lost your job, you have a pot of money to live on whilst you hunt for another job.

Once you have that, then you could be putting more money into your pension for retirement, and money into an ISA for long term money use (new car, kitchen refurbishment, to bridge a gap between when you decide to reduce work and have access to pension income).

Image is from first page in a free guide (PDF) which is a beginners guide to investing: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/investing

You can book a free hour with Pension Wise. It's government backed and they don't try to sell you anything. They're really helpful and you can concentrate on what they're staying knowing you're not going to be stung for a sale.

Pension Wise is for those over age 50, with a defined contribution pension scheme. Can be useful to have a chat with them if you meet the criteria, to help understand more about pensions in general.

Lots of free information on YouTube, Podcasts and low cost information in books. The tricky thing is finding something you relate to, something which keeps your interest and does not overly complicate things.

there are some interesting things on Netflix which are quite high level (mostly American but still of general interest)

• money explained
• Get Smart With Money
• How to Get Rich (Remit Sethi has a podcast too I think and a book that has been “translated” to the UK system)

Thanks so much everyone! For some reason Mumsnet notifications were turned off so I haven't seen these replies til now. I really appreciate it.

I guess I just feel really lost with money, sort of still like a child? I have an ISA but had no idea of the restrictions around it (ignorance is not a defence, I know) but I get so easily bamboozled by all the jargon. I'm really quite ashamed of it.

I'm not near retirement but a parent has just died and it's got me thinking about financial security.

I'll take a look at everything suggested

Another recommendation for the Meaningful Money Handbook - it covers all of the basics, so it's really useful.

(Martin) money saving expert created an introductory finance guide literally for this, based on feedback from adults who wished they had better guidance on everything to do with money when they were younger.

you can either download it as a textbook
https://www.young-enterprise.org.uk/resources/your-money-matters-financial-education-textbook/
(technically aimed at teenagers but it's relevant to everyone)

or do a course online
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-business/mses-academy-money/content-section-overview
both completely free.
It's really good as an intro

These are exactly what I was looking for - thank you!