Millions would be better off if they had been given a proper financial education, according to a wide-ranging survey for The Times.

This newspaper today launches its Smarter with Money campaign, calling for dedicated lessons in schools and help to turn Britain into a nation of investors. This week, in a series of stories, we will detail why our campaign is so badly needed and explain what needs to happen.

About nine out of ten of those who took part in our Smarter with Money survey, carried out by YouGov, said they were taught nothing, or very little, about money at school, with six out of ten of those believing that they would be better off now if they had benefited from such lessons.

More than ten leading financial firms and figures have backed our campaign, which has five goals for creating a financially fitter country.

These include providing secondary school pupils with 15 hours of money lessons a year and creating a million more investors. We want to see an end to tax grabs on long-term savings and investments, including the salary sacrifice cap on pensions announced in the chancellor’s autumn budget. We also want internet giants and regulators to clamp down on those spreading financial disinformation online.

Our manifestoProper financial education for pupils and school leavers
Every secondary school pupil should get about 15 hours of financial education a year, and this should include lessons on investing. This should be offered to pupils over 16.Create a million more investors
The latest available figures show that about four million people invested in a stocks and shares Isa in the 2023-24 tax year. We want this to rise to more than five million a year.Stop tax grabs on long-term savings and investments
Restore confidence by demanding that ministers pledge not to use our life savings to fix funding shortfalls. Call off the tax raid on salary sacrifice pension contributions.Crack down on financial disinformation
Social media giants and financial regulators must clamp down on those influencers spreading costly lies about wealth, tax, trading and risky cryptocurrencies.Encourage investing for children from birth
Urge the Treasury, financial firms and employers to encourage families to invest for young children, to teach them the power of the stock market and help set them up for life.

Among those backing our campaign are the UK’s biggest retail investment firm, Hargreaves Lansdown, three former chancellors and the leading financial education charity Money Ready.

It comes as the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is encouraging more savers to reap the rewards of the stock market and help to boost the economy by investing in British companies.

Reeves said: “The Times’s campaign to push financial literacy and inclusion is a vital step for hard-working families to achieve financial freedom — building on the work this government is doing on the first ever Financial Inclusion Strategy, spanning banking access and digital inclusion to savings, insurance, credit, debt support and education.

“For too long, investing has been seen as the preserve of the wealthy few — it isn’t. As Britain’s world-leading companies continue to push the FTSE to record highs, we’re giving people clearer information on how to responsibly invest in them.

“As readers will know, healthy habits form early, that’s why we’re making financial literacy part of the primary school curriculum, so children learn how to save, budget and understand risk. It’s great to see this campaign championing the case for financial education in schools.”

• Our five point plan to make Britain better off

Carol Knight from the Investing and Saving Alliance, a financial industry body, said the campaign was laudable. She said: “Improving financial education, ensuring clarity and consistency around long‑term saving and addressing misinformation are vital to helping consumers invest confidently, grow their savings and secure their financial futures.”

Someone who had invested £10,000 in global stock markets over the past ten years would now be more than £25,000 better off than if they had left that money in cash, according to the investment firm Fidelity International. Smarter with Money wants families to be encouraged to invest on behalf of children throughout their early lives.

The former chancellor Jeremy Hunt welcomed the campaign: “We are crucifying young people with the highest national debt since the Second World War so the least we can do is teach them to save in the way, sadly, our generation has forgotten. It would make a big difference to their life chances and, by reducing the number of people forced to depend on the state in old age, reduce their tax burden too.”

Rishi Sunak, the former prime minister who has set up a numeracy charity with his wife, the entrepreneur and fashion designer Akshata Murty, said: “Financial education is vital if we are to enable as many people as possible to make good financial decisions and build long-term financial security for themselves and their families. I welcome The Times’s campaign. I know it will boost awareness and help people to make better choices.”

• How I helped sixth-formers find £5k in forgotten child trust funds

Philip Hammond, who was chancellor from 2016 to 2019, said: “For Britain to thrive, we have to become a nation of investors as well as consumers. That means creating awareness of the power of saving and investment to create wealth for ordinary people, and ensuring an ecosystem that supports an investment culture. I welcome this initiative as a first step on the road to getting Britain into the habit of saving and investing.”

Leon Ward from Money Ready said: “Money Ready supports the campaign; we back anything that increases and improves people’s wealth. Fifteen hours a week of education would be a great starting place for schools. It is the equivalent of only about half a week of a school year so it’s not much time.

“We would love to see schools take the 15 hours, realise the impact money education has when you teach it properly and grow that — it is so powerful when you do this right.”

Richard Flint from Hargreaves Lansdown said: “We’ve always believed Britain has the potential to be a nation of retail investors and are fully behind this campaign to get it to happen.

“In our 45 years of experience, it’s a lack of awareness and confidence that holds people back from investing, so this welcome campaign to boost financial education should unlock that potential and see more people better off, while balancing important protections from unregulated advice.”

Dame Meg Hillier, an MP and chair of the Treasury select committee, said: “This is a fantastic time for The Times to launch a financial inclusion campaign. The Treasury wants to overhaul the finance culture in this country but that will require action to improve financial education, not simply warm words.

“The right measures to effectively tackle financial exclusion are up for debate. So often, governments treat financial inclusion as a box-ticking exercise and the opportunity to help people make better decisions with their money is missed. The Treasury must start taking this seriously.”