Personal finance is firmly on the school curriculum with over 10,000 pupils in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland looking forward to gaining finance qualifications, that they hope will enable them to pursue careers in the financial services industry.

The teenagers are studying optional GCSE, AS and A-level equivalent courses that have been designed as ‘stand-alone’ qualifications, and are delivered by the IFS School of Finance educational charity. Although approved by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) schools can choose whether or not to offer the additional subjects to students.

The GCSE equivalent courses were only launched a year ago and have already attracted 5,700 students. This follows on from the success of the AS and A-level equivalent courses that have attracted 4,500 pupils to enrol since 2005. Although the content of the GCSE course is designed to enable students to grasp basic financial concepts such as budgeting, opening and maintaining accounts and using different payment methods, the AS & A levels are far more in-depth providing a foundation for those wishing to work in the financial services sector.

Director of external affairs at IFS School of Finance, Anne Kiem said: “The fact that more than 10,000 14-19 year olds are now gaining the skills necessary to manage their own finances and make informed financial decisions is clearly great news.”

It is hoped that as well as basic financial skills the courses will encourage pupils to find out more about how the financial markets work in the UK, and offer a simple understanding of how complex financial products such as mortgages and life insurance work. Currently, schools must include citizenship in their curriculum but there is no requirement for personal finance to be taught at any level.

However, the government has announced plans to include personal finance modules within existing, related subjects such as personal social and health education (PSHE), following expert advice that the subject should be taught more widely in the UK.

Secretary of State Ed Balls has indicated that pupils will be taught “essential financial life skills” through the functional maths and revamped PHSE, which from September 2008 will include a new module covering economic wellbeing. But, he has stated that the “economic wellbeing” aspect will remain voluntary prompting the IFS School of Finance to lament a missed opportunity.

With the backing of the Building Societies Association and the British Bankers Association it believed that personal finance should be put on an equal footing with subjects such as history, geography and modern languages, meaning that although all students are not compelled to study personal finance, the schools will be forced to offer it as part of the curriculum.

Buying a house or a car is a huge decision because of the money involved. This is the reason that customer will look into the budget first and check if the salaries of the spouses can pay the monthly amortization before pushing through with the deal.

It is a good thing that most car dealerships and real estate developers offer easy payment financing plans to the customer and all the person has to do is choose whether to pay it in the next 3, 5 7 or 10 years. In business, the same thing takes place for entrepreneurs who do not have sufficient funds. Instead of reaching out to banks, it will be a good idea to talk to a venture capitalist investor.

Should both parties have an agreement, a financing plan can be drawn up from the moment that the startup business opens. What is the first step in starting any business? This will be to come up with an idea and then write a business plan. This document should cover the objective or goal of the business, the amount needed, the projected sales and the return of investment.

Though the timeline for this project is not accurate, it can give the investor a good idea as to how much money is needed and how long will this be recovered. The next thing for the entrepreneur to do is to send this out to as many people as possible hoping that someone will like to invest in it. This may take months and countless meetings with various companies and individuals who in most cases will reject the proposal.

But those who persevere will soon be able to find someone who is willing to take a chance in the hopes that this will work. Where can the entrepreneur find an investor? The person can get this information from business magazines or friends. Those who have worked before and opted for early retirement can even tap the old boss or some former clients.

Venture capitalist investors will not just wait for the money to come back like the creditors. This is because aside from lending the money, these people will also be there taking an active role to make sure everything is all right. Before any important decision is made, these individuals will advice the entrepreneur so that each penny spent goes to the right place than regretting it after a setback has happened.

One of the most important things in order to start a business is a plan. Why? This is because more than 85% of those who invested fail with the inclination that money is all that is needed. Having a good business plan is like building a house using bricks instead of sticks. This will have the vision and objective of the company, how much is needed, the sales projections and the return of investment.

This will serve like a guide to be able to foresee certain problems and have contingencies in place to deal with it. Of course, the entrepreneur will still have to worry about money. But a sound business plan will surely invite a venture capitalist. This individual could either work alone or is a part of a bigger organization.

Maybe the person has no time to do it but sees the entrepreneur thinking in the same direction and will like to see how this turns out. Since most startups are risky with the possibility of failure, this individual will also like to play an active role in the business.

The venture capitalist is usually someone who is familiar with the industry that the entrepreneur wants to engage in. This means that person may know the ins and outs so that mistakes can be avoided and surging the business forward.

Where does the person find the person or the company? The entrepreneur can start by asking some friends or those at work should this by the step towards leaving the regular job and spending more time in this endeavor.

After getting a few references, it is time to write a letter together with the business plan to give the prospective investor what this is all about. A formal meeting will usually take place after that and if everything goes well, then the money will start pouring in.

Venture capitalist companies have helped a lot of starters in the information technology industry. The same thing can happen for the individual regardless of the field one is coming from because there are people out there who have the money and are just waiting for the right opportunity.

Does the individual have what it takes to come up with a business plan and then sell it to someone who has the money? That is going to be the question the entrepreneur has to ask oneself because these the venture capital company will also be reviewing other proposals with the same promise of returns.

Although banks and other business lenders have made a pointed effort to portray themselves as lending normally, very few business owners are likely to suggest that there is anything normal about obtaining financing from current commercial finance programs. It has become a routine occurrence for small business owners to be told by their current commercial lender that it will be necessary to seek another source for commercial loans and working capital.

I published several earlier articles which addressed some of the problems that commercial borrowers are experiencing when they attempt to obtain working capital financing and commercial loans. It has become clear that current commercial lending conditions have become even more difficult for most business owners. For example, one of these commercial finance reports described the unfortunate possibility of firing your banker as one of several guerrilla financing techniques that might be required for a small business to survive in the face of extreme business banking conditions.

It would not be realistic to suggest that there are one or two obvious business lending sources that will solve the working capital needs for all businesses in need of help. Nevertheless I would not advocate the guerrilla financing tactic of firing your bank and your banker if there were not suitable alternative sources for small business financing.

Identifying the most likely alternatives can be accomplished in several ways but one of the most effective approaches will include detailed discussions with commercial loans experts that are experienced in nationwide business financing similar to what the business owner currently needs. Realistically the search for new commercial lending sources must start with an admission from a small business owner that they do in fact need to find a new source for business loans.

The best commercial finance solutions will depend on the business location, type of financing, kind of business, operating history and size of loan desired. A key point for business owners to remember is that there really are a number of viable and effective commercial lenders that are currently active in making commercial loans to businesses that are in desperate need of commercial financing. Some of the most realistic sources for small business loans are operating regionally rather than nationally.

In addition to the advice contained in this article, small business owners should review commercial finance resources such as The Working Capital Management Guide, a free online publication which focuses on short term capital financing strategies. Commercial borrowers should also have a candid discussion with a commercial loan expert who is capable of providing appropriate help for their unique business financing needs.