Surge in Kent's young adults needing help managing money in cost-of-living crisis
Research by Citizen Advice has shown the number of young people needing help with managing their money has doubled since 2019.
The charity, which supported 66,000 under 25s last year alone, says one in five (20%) young adults wanted its advice with debt.
Additionally, nine in ten (90%) of people under 25 feel uncomfortable discussing finances, shying away from such conversations, choosing to talk about sensitive topics like health issues, politics or religion instead.
Citizens Advice has warned that many young people are feeling particularly squeezed by the cost-of-living crisis as they face a triple whammy of soaring living costs, rising private rents and high inflation.
Emmanuel Asuquo, a financial adviser from Bromley, believes that amidst rising prices educating kids about money is key.
"Adults that I see, they haven't had a financial education, so actually how can a parent teach their child something that they don't have themselves, that's why it's so important that we empower kids to be able to learn skills that they can teach their parents about as well.
"For me, if we do this, we can change that generational poverty, where parents make bad decisions and then your kids copy them choices and therefore by educating them, they can break that cycle by building money and building wealth.
"If they can learn at a young age, that if you have money, you can use it to make money by saving and investing and that is so important because there are a lot of people who get a job and think that's the only income they can make."
In the Citizens Advice study, embarrassment was listed as the top reason why young adults feel uncomfortable discussing money, followed by the fear of comparison.
The top five reasons why young people feel uncomfortable talking about finances are:
1) Feeling embarrassed of their financial situation (35%)
2)Feeling worried how their finances compare to others (31%)
3) It’s too personal a topic to talk about (18%)
4) Not wanting the other person to feel uncomfortable in the conversation (15%)
5) Not knowing enough about finances to talk about the topic confidently (12%)
To support young people to feel more comfortable discussing finances, Citizens Advice has created an expert guide here: