"We teach people the rules of the game of money."
On 26th February, teams from across the protection space will come together to fight for the ultimate industry prize… Inside Track champion 2026.
But while victory is sweet, the real takeaway from the gameshow is keeping advisers up to date on each aspect of the industry across eight rounds, and this is also why Inside Track 2026 (IT26) is supporting financial education charity Money Ready (formerly known as MyBnk) with a fundraising goal of £10,000.
I spoke to Claire Quigley, deputy CEO and fundraising and communications director at Money Ready, about the charity's collaboration with IT26, as well as its impact and goals.
"Money Ready is the UK's largest financial education charity. We reach over 50,000 learners every year, delivering expert-led, high-impact education programmes. We touch on topics like savings, debt, independent living, and student finance. Our mission is to bring the language of finance to life so that everyone can navigate their money with confidence, no matter where they start," she says.
Money Ready follows three core values: 'young at heart, serious in intent,' as well as 'stories are the best form of education,' and 'we live in the real world.'
"For us, it's really important that we try and crush any taboos around money, that we don't use money jargon as much as possible with our learners and that we remember that it's important to have fun and to use real-life examples. It's really important to us that our values represent those of many of the learners we're trying to engage, reach and help," Claire explains.
"Too often, we hear 'I wish someone had told me that,' or 'I wish I'd learned that in school.'"
"In the UK, most people learn about money through the mistakes that they make or the mistakes of others," Claire continues, "Money Ready is working really hard across all four nations in the UK to create a financially fluent population, and we are so delighted to be Inside Track's charity partner for 2026."
Money Ready is now in its twentieth year, and while Claire notes that "there's more interest in financial literacy than there has ever been," there is still "an intergenerational problem that we're trying to solve."
"Almost two-thirds of young adults do not remember ever receiving financial education, and 53% of young adults are worried that they will never be financially secure. Over ten years ago, Money Ready were real key players in getting financial education on the secondary school curriculum in England, and we're really proud to be part of a number of organisations that have helped to get it on the future curriculum for primary school. But we know that school is just one part of it.
"Where financial education and financial capability really come into their own is in the workplace. When you start work and you get your first paycheck, that's when it really matters. The other area where it matters is independent living. We see poor financial literacy as being central to so many of the other problems that people face today across the UK, like mental health, homelessness and unemployment.
"Over the last twenty years, we have really made the connection between poor financial health and mental well-being."
Claire notes that one of the groups that Money Ready is "particularly passionate" about when it comes to financial education is care-experienced young people.
"They are particularly vulnerable because of their personal circumstances, and we know that they have a very high chance of becoming homeless, unfortunately," she says, "in London, we worked hand in hand with local authorities and with care-experienced young people.
"At the point that they were preparing to leave care; they were mandated by many of the local governments and boroughs in London to complete a Money Ready programme. Upon completion of the course, they then received their bidding number, which allowed them to get into the system to get their first tenancy," Claire explains.
In 2021, the charity won first prize at the London Homelessness Awards, and the impact of Money Ready’s intervention elsewhere can be seen in their sessions in Scotland, where the charity contributed to a 32% decrease in young people failing to keep up with rent and energy bills, and where less than 2% of the care-experienced young people who attended these sessions went on to face eviction.
"We teach people the rules of the game of money," Claire says. "Someone has taken the time to explain [to the care-experienced young people] the tenancy, the benefits that they will receive, and what they need to prioritise. So that really speaks to our values about living in the real world."
Money Ready also has funds dedicated to supporting refugees to adapt to the financial culture in the UK: "If you look across the world, there are lots of cultural differences with money and finances, so we do need to really step into their shoes and help them to navigate the finance system here in the UK," Claire says.
"Some of the stereotypes that really bother me are that people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are not good with money. That is so wrong."
Claire also highlights that "some of the most brilliant people at budgeting, insuring their products, and being careful with money are people who don't have a lot of money. They are very careful with how they spend every single penny. Then there's this middle group, I suppose you might say that they are cash rich and they maybe live off the bank of mum and dad, so they can just afford to make mistakes and often are the worst with money.
"Other vulnerable groups for us are young people who are not in education or training, because every penny counts. We want to help them to prioritise and budget their available cash the best they can."
Regarding the content of Money Ready’s education, Claire states that their “programmes are designed with stage, not age, in mind.”
"Our school-age programmes are largely a very wide brushstroke approach. We target schools in deprived areas; we try to level the playing field and really focus on social mobility. At school age, it's habit formation. It's getting comfortable and understanding key terms, and it is so fun. The young people love to see the Money Ready trainers come into their school because they don't realise that they're learning.
"We teach through education, mostly gamification - we create little shops, we have raps and rhymes and things like that. Then, as we start moving towards the 16+ age range, we really are focusing on making sure that people understand the financial consequences of that next step.
"Most of our trainers are ex-teachers or experienced youth workers, and sometimes both, and our young adult programmes are really special because many of them also have an accreditation.
"Our aspiration is informed consumers. We think it is a social justice issue."
In terms of how financial awareness plays into the protection space, Claire stresses that "education is absolutely fundamental."
"It’s the cornerstone of closing the protection gap that exists in the UK. We’re facing a situation where millions of people are underinsured or completely unprotected, often not through choice, but through the lack of understanding.
Claire also underlines the importance of ensuring that advisers "have the tools and knowledge to have meaningful conversations about protection. It’s not just about the features, it’s also about helping them really understand the customers’ circumstances, helping them articulate the real-world value, and the peace of mind that protection provides.
"For customers, I think education needs to be super accessible and super relatable. We work with a lot of financial services who are funders of Money Ready, and as part of our partnerships they often provide some financial education to their staff and customers as well.
"At Money Ready, we’ve moved away from complex jargon, and I think customers really appreciate that, and they really appreciate real-life scenarios, for example helping people understand what would happen to their mortgage payments, their children’s education or their family’s lifestyle if something unexpected occurred.
"We’ve found that when people understand the cost of not being protected versus the modest cost of protection, that value proposition becomes clear, whereas they just haven’t really understood what it meant before, so I think shifting the conversation from ‘this is an expense’ to 'this is essential financial planning' would be really brilliant," Claire says.
"The industry has a collective responsibility here."
"Poor understanding leads to poor outcomes, and that can sometimes break down trust between consumers and financial advisers. When we educate people, when people know that they’re informed, it’s not just about selling products, it’s about that financial security and creating a more financially resilient society and savvy consumers, which is the ideal scenario for us at Money Ready," Claire says.
In 2026, Money Ready have launched a new campaign called 'The Cost of Not Knowing.' According to Claire, the campaign is "designed to shine a light on the real financial and emotional costs that families face when they don’t have adequate protection in place."
"We’re sharing real-life stories and practical examples to help people understand what’s truly at stake. The campaign provides tools and resources for everyone to understand the risks, whether it’s calculating the costs of replacing income, the cost of further education, the impact on their future, or a financial opportunity – we’re trying to make what’s invisible, visible," Claire explains.
To learn more about Money Ready, click here. If you want to be a part of Inside Track’s mission to educate advisers and fundraise £10,000 for Money Ready, sign up your team or enter our live studio audience ballot here.
