Steph McGovern

This episode is sponsored by Starling, the bank that helps you organise your money, build great habits and stay in control of your spending.

Now, I talk a lot about financial literacy and its importance in our economy, you know, giving people knowledge, but also confidence with money too.

And Starling reckons anyone can be good with money and you can start simply by checking your balance daily.

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And then the real value comes from digging into the details with tools like Starling Spending Intelligence.

So this is an AI powered search bar within Starling current accounts where you can ask a question about your spending habits and get an instant answer in app.

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Search Starling Bank to find out more.

Good with money starts here.

On the apprenticeship point, again, I did a kind of apprenticeship with Black & Decker before I went to uni.

Yeah, Spennymoor.

Yeah, that plant.

And, you know, that was something which, again, our school really promoted that vocational education.

A lot of the young people I'm talking to, it's not given to them as an option at school.

Lots of schools benefit from the kids staying on for a sixth form because they get that extra income.

You've got local further education colleges have been woefully underfunded for years now.

And it is more expensive to put on these vocational courses because of all the kit you need and

There's great businesses who are providing that in some wonderful colleges that have been particularly around here.

But there is this issue of it not being presented as an option to people, particularly at 16.