Financial illiteracy 'costs UK £3.4bn a year' Financial illiteracy contributes to the country's "massive personal debt problem," added moneysavingexpert.com, saying that this excessive debt could have been used more productively elsewhere in the economy, such as providing finance for small and medium-sized businesses. These companies could have generated £716m of economic activity a year, the report claimed. Martin Lewis of moneysavingexpert.com said: "It's a national disgrace that for over 20 years we've educated our youth into debt when they go to university, but never about debt. The cost of not equipping young people with the skills and knowledge needed to become intelligent, responsible consumers is huge compared to the trivial cost of adding financial numeracy to the maths curriculum and money awareness to personal, health and social education. The findings come a year after an e-petition signed by more than 118,000 people forced Parliament to debate the possibility of putting financial education on the national curriculum. The petition, submitted by Mr Lewis, supported work carried out by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education for Young People. A separate survey published on Thursday found that one in four adults has the maths skills of a nine-year-old or worse and struggles with the most basic everday sums. The Skills for Life survey, which examined basic abilities among 16 to 65-year-olds across England, found that in some areas up to a quarter of adults have the numeracy skills of a seven to nine-year-old or below.