Is personal finance an issue that can be taught or do you just pick it up along the journey of life? The 'school-of-hard-knocks" is where many seem to sharpen their teeth on fiscal matters but is that the right playground for our society to be maintaining?

I've just read another article Back to personal-finance basics on a school system hoping to influence young students in money matters. I'm bouyed by the optimism but I struggle with the pressures that you can't teach kids that will inevitably inch their way into their lives.

For instance, here's a big one: Will they teach them that staying together in a relationship and working hard at it to make it successful makes better financial sense that separating years down the track? What about those ridiculous purchasing terms of "Pay nothing now - 4 years interest free" - how do you teach kids when they're mates all have the latest Plasma that delayed gratification is a better deal?

I'm all for education, but education taught as theory only seems to me to be the biggest waste of time. You would never train a doctor purely from manuals and tutorials. They need experience with the tools of their trade - bodies and scalpels. The same needs to happen with teaching kids about personal financial skills. They need to somehow deal with the pressures of this world in a simulated environment that's as close to real as possible.

Where can this happen? Where it should happen - in the home.