Poor numeracy 'leads to financial problems'

News Article - Friday, November 21, 2008

filed under: Business

Being poor with numbers can lead to financial problems, the chief executive of an online education company has said.

Richard Marett, from Whizz.com, said that people with little skill in maths can get into trouble with interest rates and compound growth, "an element of basic mathematics", when taking out loans.

They often don't understand just how much they will end up having to pay back.

Many also have a "worry about it tomorrow" approach with their borrowing, which is more to do with bad "emotional management" rather than maths, he added.

"It's a combination - people bury their head in the sand and, in many cases, they don't understand the full repercussions of borrowing money... and how quickly it can become a problem which spirals out of control," he concluded.

His claim appears to be shared by many in business, with more than half (51 per cent) of the employers surveyed for the Confederation of British Industry/Pertemps Employment Trends Survey 2008 reporting they are unhappy with school-leavers basic number skills.