Help some clueless adults!?

[SundayTulip]

Does anybody know of a website/course/resource to just learn basic money stuff!? Both my husband and I have somehow reached our thirties without ever really understanding how stuff works. Banking, finances, pensions, tax etc. We managed to become homeowners so have a mortgage but we very much fumbled through the process without fully understanding things. It's really hard to plan for our futures as we just don't know where to start as we never had anybody to teach us this stuff! It's like we are failing 'adulting'.

When I try to target one area by researching online I just get completely overwhelmed and we clam up with embarrassment whenever conversations start up about these topics irl as we just feel so silly for not being able to follow.

It would be amazing if there was a course with a chapter going through each money related topic simply. The stuff that everyone should know!!

Any ideas or advice?

Money Saving Expert (Martin Lewis) is wonderful for all this. The website and app have helpful guides on all sorts if aspects of finance on the tabs along the top.

moneyhelper.org.uk

Meaningful Academy Financial Foundations: free course on budgeting, paying off debt, and money mindset. https://meaningfulacademy.com/financialfoundations

Financial Interest - Index Funds For Beginners
Free course on investing within your ISA & defined contribution pension using Index funds. https://financialinterest.com/index-funds-for-beginners/

The institute of banking had a simple course on Finance, we used to do it with Sixth Form students.

Nat West do a whole finance thing for schools. It's called MoneySense. You can find it on-line. It's free.

Definitely MSE and Meaningful Money.

Sign up to the MSE weekly newsletter and actually read it for ongoing reminders about things to be aware of. Also use it as a resource each time you want to know about something eg savings accounts.

The Meaningful Money podcast has a huge back catalogue but a lot of it is about investments.

However there's a great starter series that goes through the financial flow chart in detail so listening to that would give you a good plan for what you should be thinking about in what order.

https://meaningfulmoney.tv/2023/05/17/finance-os-intro/

I don’t think this is that unusual OP. I had a conversation with my adult DDs the other day about this sort of thing being taught in maths lessons rather than some of the stuff that is currently taught and never used again .

Ask chat GPT to explain things it’s very handy.

^ Totally this.
If you don’t understand what it says, ask it to make it simpler or to break down the explanation.

It will even calculate your tax, national insurance, etc. if you tell it how much you earn.

The information is tailored completely to what you ask - whereas other information isn’t!

But ChatGPT writes nonsense that 'clueless adults' won't realise is incorrect. It's the absolute last thing the OP needs.

Hi everyone,

I've just checked back to see all of these replies! I don't think I can reply individually but a big thank you to everyone who has signposted here. It's so incredibly helpful to have a starting point to work from, I really appreciate it!🙏

A great book is 'You're not broke, you're pre-rich'
From basic budgeting techniques all the way up to how investments work

The problem with getting AI to explain concepts that people misunderstand is that AI doesn't know which version is correct. AI won't ever say it doesn't know, it will waffle, and if you don't know any better, you believe it!

As others have said just do some reading - internet/books and try and teach yourself the basics - this is what I did a few years ago to try and get myself in a slightly better position as none of my family/wife etc are any good with money.

I certainly wouldn't class myself as an expert and recently had a dabble with trading 212 which nearly blew my head initially. There are certainly lots of places to help offer advice on what best to do with your money/pensions etc etc