By Steve Conley, Founder of the Academy of Life Planning
Background: Financial Education Returns to the Curriculum
After more than a decade without review, the UK Government has announced plans to include financial education within the national curriculum for both primary and secondary schools.
The proposals, warmly welcomed by many financial planners, aim to make topics like budgeting, credit, mortgages, and pensions a core part of children’s education — from Key Stage 1 through to post-16 study. The approach promises to combine mathematical foundations with real-world financial citizenship, and encourages collaboration with employers to enhance financial capability.
Organisations such as the CISI, PFS, and major firms like Quilter have publicly endorsed the move. They argue that financial literacy from an early age is essential to building long-term financial confidence and inclusion — a way to create a nation of adults who understand money rather than fear it.
And yet, beneath this seemingly progressive reform lies a critical question:
Who is being invited to shape the minds of our children?
The Problem: When the Extractors Write the Lessons
Many of the same institutions responsible for decades of structurally untrustworthy financial systems — the very ones that have fuelled debt dependency, hidden commissions, and financial exclusion — are now positioning themselves as partners in education.
They are offering “resources,” “classroom packs,” and “volunteer ambassadors.”
But let’s be clear: this is not philanthropy. It is reputation laundering.
By controlling the narrative at the earliest stages of learning, they don’t just teach money skills — they teach mindsets:
obedience to financial authority, acceptance of inequality, and the normalisation of lifelong debt.
A structurally untrustworthy education system will produce structurally exploited citizens — those who trust institutions more than themselves.
The Alternative: Structurally Trustworthy Education
A Structurally Trustworthy Curriculum begins not with “How to take out a mortgage,” but with “How money itself is created, and who benefits.”
It teaches children not just to function within systems, but to question, design, and improve them.
1. Purpose: From Literacy to Sovereignty
Financial literacy is not enough. Children must learn:
- How value is created through human endeavour and community collaboration.
- How systems can be designed for fairness, not just for profit.
- How to align personal goals with collective good, not just private gain.
We must move from teaching “how to get a mortgage” to “how to build communities that don’t depend on one.”
2. Pedagogy (how we teach): Inquiry, Not Indoctrination
Instead of industry-led materials, a trustworthy curriculum uses:
- Inquiry projects: “Who owns your bank?” “What happens to your data?”
- Values-based exploration: “What does ‘enough’ mean to you?”
- Collaborative learning: Co-creating community enterprises and local solutions.
Teach children to ask the questions that create thinkers, not just the answers that create borrowers.
3. Content: The Four Capitals Framework
True wealth extends beyond money. A balanced curriculum integrates Human, Social, Environmental, and Financial Capital.
| Capital Type | Core Lessons |
|---|---|
| Human | Self-awareness, purpose, skill-building |
| Social | Trust, cooperation, mutual support |
| Environmental | Sustainability, natural cycles, resource stewardship |
| Financial | Budgeting, ethical investing, understanding risk and debt |
Financial literacy without human literacy is dangerous.
4. Delivery: Independent, Transparent, Accountable
Financial education must be free from commercial influence.
It should be:
- Delivered by independent citizen educators, not corporate “ambassadors.”
- Built on open-source materials, free from bias and publicly auditable.
- Governed by a citizens’ trust board, accountable to the public, not shareholders.
If financial firms wish to contribute, they should fund endowments — not write the lesson plans.
5. Outcome: Structural Trustworthiness
Children who graduate from such a system would gain:
- Economic literacy — how systems really work.
- Moral literacy — how they should work.
- Civic literacy — how to change them when they don’t.
This is education as liberation — the foundation of structural trustworthiness.
The Academy’s Vision: Planning My Life for Schools
At the Academy of Life Planning, we propose a Trust Agenda for Education, grounded in the same principles that guide our work with adults.
Our “Planning My Life” framework can help schools teach life planning before money planning — integrating the GAME Plan (Goals, Actions, Means, Execution) and the Significant STORIES System into child-friendly learning.
We envision:
- Peer mentoring between schools and community planners.
- Cross-generational learning where families plan together.
- AI-assisted tools to explore human potential and financial empowerment safely.
This approach replaces indoctrination with imagination — helping young people see money not as master, but as servant to their purpose.
Conclusion: The Trust Agenda Comes First
Financial education in schools is a welcome step — but only if it teaches children how to think, not what to buy.
If we teach them trustworthiness before profit, they will rebuild the world from the ground up.
A structurally trustworthy curriculum prepares children not merely to earn a living — but to create a life.
And that is the foundation of every truly free society.
Call to Action:
Join us in shaping a Trust Agenda for Education.
Let’s ensure the next generation learns not just how to manage money — but how to manage power, purpose, and peace of mind.
🏡 How to Build a Community That Doesn’t Depend on Mortgages
From Debt-Based Housing to Life-Based Living
1. Redefine Ownership: From “Mine” to “Ours”
Mortgages exist to fund individual ownership through institutional credit.
To break that cycle, shift from private debt to shared stewardship.
Models:
- Community Land Trusts (CLTs): The land is owned collectively; individuals lease homes on it at cost, keeping housing permanently affordable.
- Co-housing and mutual home ownership schemes: Residents co-invest, co-manage, and share amenities, reducing costs and promoting connection.
- Commonhold & co-operative ownership: The community, not a bank, is the perpetual custodian of the land.
When land is held in common, homes become homes again — not collateral.
2. Redesign Finance: From Borrowed Money to Shared Means
The mortgage model ties money creation to debt. We can reimagine housing finance around community capital and regenerative investment.
Alternatives:
- Community share offers: Residents and local supporters buy community shares that finance the build, with modest returns linked to use-value, not speculation.
- Mutual credit systems: Local currencies and exchange networks that enable trade and building without traditional bank loans.
- Ethical investment pools: Purpose-driven funds investing in affordable eco-homes with capped equity returns, recycling gains back into the community.
When profit is shared, debt becomes unnecessary.
3. Revalue the Home: From Asset to Ecosystem
In a debt economy, a home’s purpose is capital growth.
In a trust economy, its purpose is stability, belonging, and contribution.
Principles:
- Homes as energy producers, not consumers — generating power, water, and food locally.
- Mixed-use zoning: integrating workspace, education, and social spaces.
- Circular design: buildings that are modular, repairable, and made from local materials.
A structurally trustworthy home pays its way in wellbeing, not interest.
4. Rebuild Culture: From Extraction to Cooperation
A mortgage-free society isn’t achieved through finance alone — it’s a cultural shift from independence to interdependence.
Practices:
- Timebanking and skills exchange: community members trade expertise instead of cash.
- Collective childcare, eldercare, and food networks: reducing the financial load on individuals.
- Participatory governance: every adult and child has a say in how the community evolves.
In a high-trust culture, we replace contracts with commitments.
5. Regenerate Policy: From Property Ladder to Living System
Government frameworks can enable these shifts through:
- Land value taxation to discourage speculation.
- Planning permission incentives for community-led housing.
- Public funding for co-operative infrastructure — energy, transport, broadband — instead of subsidies for private landlords.
When policy rewards trust, the economy begins to heal.
6. Real-World Examples
- LILAC (Leeds): A Mutual Home Ownership Society, where members pay equity-based rent; no individual holds a mortgage.
- Coin Street (London): A CLT on the South Bank, regenerating land for community benefit.
- Eigg (Scotland): A community-owned island, energy self-sufficient and debt-free.
- Vauban (Freiburg): A sustainable neighbourhood where car ownership, debt, and waste are all minimised by design.
These examples prove that mortgage-free doesn’t mean primitive — it means progressive, purposeful, and people-powered.
7. Integrate the GAME Plan
In GAME Plan terms:
- Goals: Collective wellbeing and sustainability.
- Actions: Co-operative ownership and regenerative design.
- Means: Community capital, mutual credit, ethical finance.
- Execution: Transparent governance and participatory decision-making.
This is the productive cycle of community wealth — where money serves life, not the other way around.
🌿 In Summary
To build a community that doesn’t depend on mortgages, we must:
- Own land together.
- Fund homes cooperatively.
- Design for regeneration.
- Govern through trust.
- Value life over leverage.
Join the Movement.
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