Education, education, education the key to saving

During March, much attention was paid to education as a vital part of getting families to save for their children and to also encourage kids themselves to begin saving early, use tax-efficient means of saving and keep up the habit throughout their life.

Possibly an obvious way to impart the value of saving to the next generation is through formal schooling and the Buildings Societies Association this month recommended that financial education become part of the national curriculum, making it compulsory for all schoolchildren to learn money management and the value of saving.

With such classes not yet mandatory, building society Britannia stepped up to the breach by announcing that children in Cheshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire would benefit from half-hour financial education workshops in school following a successful pilot of the scheme.

Some believe that parents can teach kids how to deal with money before they even set off on the school run, with Co-operative Insurance suggesting that parents play games like Value for Money and Supermarket Sweep to help children pick up the financial knowledge they'll need later on in life as early as possible.

In addition to straightforward education and games at home, this month saw the government recommend the use of the child trust fund (CTF), the savings and investment account for children launched last year, as a learning tool to encourage secondary school children to save, as well as an investment opportunity.

The need to sufficiently educate UK savers of their savings options was highlighted in March when a survey from Alliance & Leicester revealed that Britons are not properly informed of the benefits and features of individual savings accounts (Isas), with many sucked in by a myth of complexity surrounding the funds.

Friends Provident added their voice to these concerns, describing the lack of awareness of the full tax-benefits of Isas as a "blind spot" afflicting the country that could result in savers paying more tax than they need to on their investments.

And finally, CTFs also got another mention this month as a means of keeping money in the home and away from the chancellor, with financial advice campaign firm IFA Promotion expressing its support for the fund as an effective method of protecting savings from the taxman.