really interesting meeting yesterday. Met with a publisher and financial capability outreach worker and educator to scope out the content of a forthcoming publication. The brief was to work out the main topics and style in a 32 page booklet . We all agreed that accessible language was important, and how difficult it was to express complicated concepts in simple but not patronising language. Also all agreed that many people are not numerate and so will be put off by complex numbers. Also, finance and debt are sensitive personal topics, and that debt carries stigma.

So, left with the important basic questions ; what are the important points that everyone needs to know in order to be able to cope best with their money, and how can these be well expressed so as to retain people's attention and aid their understanding.

Also a lot of discussion about 'needs' versus 'wants' i.e. is a the latest 32" inch flat screen TV a need or a want ? We disagreed on this as you might expect, with a range of views expressed. Difficult and subjective I think, and strays into the whole area of lifestyle and personal choices. Of course we could all manage our money if we went without electronic goods, cars, holidays, eating out, new furniture, bought our clothes second hand etc etc. But while that may be the lifestyle choice some may go for, its definitely not for all.

I'm sure that however the booklet is written it must not be, or appear to be, judgemental. So I'm going to have a go at drafting one of the sections, probably on 'budgeting'. So if any one has suggestions about how this topic can be put over clearly (why, what, how?) let me know. Incidentally the publication will use visuals / cartoons / diagrams etc, so not reliant on dense and unreadable text.

yours

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