Parents 'must teach students money management skills'

Parents can play a vital role in educating their children financially before they go to university, it has been said.

Parents can play a significant role in helping new student account holders adapt to living away from home for the very first time.

That is the opinion of Yvonne Goodwin, managing director of the independent financial advisory firm Yvonne Goodwin Wealth Management, who believes youngsters will often need guidance if they are to cope with having complete control of their current account balance.

Often, individuals can be tempted to spend the majority of their student loan immediately on luxury items such as clothes and meals out, but this means they will struggle for cash later on in the academic year.

And with this in mind, Ms Goodwin indicated that Britons should look to foster a culture of prudence within their offspring a few years before they fly the nest through leading by example.

The expert explained that waiting until a few days before children leave home to speak to them about such matters will not work as they will be "too excited to listen", meaning creating a financially-conscious environment in their household early is vital.

Recently, a study conducted by Marks & Spencer Money revealed that 52 per cent of people are not currently thinking ahead with the intention of helping children with tuition fee charges.

However, Ms Goodwin went on to indicate that if individuals are "planning in advance to help their children with the extra costs at university", this will show offspring the value of "real money that has been hard earned and hard saved".

In turn, this should give youngsters "more of an incentive to spend it wisely".

The specialist also stated that supermarkets can also help encourage students to budget properly through the promotion of cheap food offers in store near to universities.

Meanwhile, she noted financiers should be "more frugal with overdrafts and credit cards" to stop individuals running up large amounts of debt.

By Joe Letts