That’s  only worth mentioning because Jill Insley is a respected and established financial journalist. She wrote about her money problems in the Guardian on Saturday. She has mentioned them before, in the Observer where she used to edit the Cash section.

She is not alone in admitting the enormous gulf between the advice she dishes out to readers and her own ability to handle money. That edition of Saturday’s Guardian was full of finance writers explaining all the things they tell others to do but haven’t got round to themselves. They include sorting out their pension, making a will, drawing up a budget, switching to a better current account….and so on.

Even allowing for a bit of exaggeration to make a lively feature, it’s clear that Guardian finance writers don’t score highly for their financial capability. Making ends meet, keeping track of finances, planning ahead, choosing products…all FAIL. This does not inspire confidence.

There’s another unfortunate effect of their relentless dishing out of advice and information. It risks demoralising  young people, overwhelming them with the volume of things to think about. It adds to a sense of mystique around handling money. It makes simple things complex, and manageable things seem impossible.

Perhaps Jill Insley and her colleagues would consider a disclaimer on the pages they write:

None of us actually do this stuff. We just write it to worry you. That’s because it suits our advertisers if we create an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. That way, some of you will buy products you don’t need and to chop & change the ones you do.

In reality, you can be an above-average manager of money without paying attention to any of this guff.  Just use common sense and the basic products that have been available for years. Take what we write with a pinch of salt, except this disclaimer.

Not likely to happen. But finding other ways to get that message across to young people could be reassuring and empowering for them.

That’s not surprising to anyone who talks regularly to young people about money. But it challenges widespread assumptions that young people are a reckless, spend-now generation that accepts debt as way of life. That stereotype isn’t true, and isn’t helpful.

I’ve just been flicking through a market research report carried out last month for financial service organisations by Ci Research. It surveyed just over 450 young people, aged 16 to 26. Findings are:

• Some 71 per cent are fairly or very uncomfortable with debt. They see it a something to be avoided or taken on only as a last resort.
• Just 4 per cent say they are very comfortable with debt, accepting it as a fact of life.
• Of those aged 18 and over, 62 per cent don’t have a credit card.
• The majority (78 per cent) say they are keeping a consistent eye on their finances. Interestingly, there are no significant sub-group variations by age, tenure, gender, region, education status or attitudes towards debt

This is valuable because it seems to be sound research for the financial industry. This isn’t a third sector organisation trying to get attention for its crucial work. It isn’t a quick & dirty survey cobbled together by a PR company designed to attract the eye of clueless hacks writing personal finance pages. If it is what the industry uses for planning, it is worth listening to.

So what are the implications for those trying to help young people with their finances?

I’d suggest that it is not worth putting a lot of energy into changing most young people’s attitude to debt. Trying to scare people who are already averse is not empowering. Better perhaps to concentrate on building skills. Help in finding ways to keep track of income and spending in a way that works for them – and practising them till they become second nature – might be what most young people most need.

The quick answer is to stay calm and get help. People get in debt, and they can get out of it. Slowly and sometimes with difficulty. Debt is a very hard problem. It won’t disappear overnight. But it can be managed.

Here’s my off-the-cuff list of what an adult needs to help a young person who is deep in debt.

1. Trust & openness. If you are not trusted you won’t be told anything. You also need to be open about what you know and how you can help. Young people sometimes say they don’t raise their money problems with adults because they don’t think the adults will know what to do. In many cases, they’re right.
2. A calm attitude—neither over-reacting nor under-reacting. Panicking doesn’t help anyone. Neither does shrugging it off.
3. Knowledge of what debt is, what effect it has on people, and the main ways to manage oneself out of it. This does not have to be at the level of a debt adviser or a welfare rights adviser. Those are specialist areas it is better for untrained people never to wander into. But it helps to know the basic outlines, the terminology and some of the principles.
4. Inside understanding of local services. A young person with problem debts may need the help of a money advice or debt counselling service. They may need the support from a welfare rights adviser. They may be helped by a youth information, advice and counselling agency. Whichever, the important thing is to know what is available, what the young person’s reception is likely to be (so they can be prepared), and what they need to take with them on a first visit (so they don’t waste time having to book another appointment).

That’s a lot for a non-specialist to know. But young people deserve no less. So how do you get there? Points 1,2 and 4 are something adults need to work out for themselves, pick up from experience and intuition, and get good at by practising. They’re about attitude and skills.

Item 3 is more knowledge-based—which means you can learn it. You can find out what to do, what to avoid. A good route is to sign up for a course. Another is to read a book.

There are a lot of get-out-of-debt books around. Search amazon.co.uk  for “debt” and you reveal a mini-industry of variable quality and value. Managing Your Debt by Phillip Inman is a good example of the genre.

Promising independent and expert advice, Managing Your Debt pretty much lives up to its claim. There is an awful lot of sound and reliable information. There’s a good balance of explanation, advice and case studies.

It covers, for instance: What powers debt collection agencies have, and how they are likely to behave. What a debt management plan looks like. The importance of sorting out what’s owed into priority and non-priority debts. Why consolidation loans are probably not a good idea. When debts can lead to court action. How to draw up a budget and what to do if you can’t follow it.

And much more. Remember you don’t have to learn all this. Knowing all aspects of it would turn you into a money specialist. Being broadly aware of what the route is will help you point a young person in the right direction.

Managing Your Debt by Phillip Inman costs £10.99 post free from the publisher Which? Or from Amazon, at a bit of a discount and the chance to look inside.

“Half of 18-34 year olds say they have debts of up to £10,000″. That’s a typical form of words used by those trying to communicate the seriousness of young people’s financial state. The source for it is a sound and interesting research project, conducted by Reform and the Chartered Insurance Institute. The Money’s too tight to mention report is a worthwhile read. But it shouldn’t be used for scaremongering.

Here’s what’s wrong with using the figure above without qualification or context:

• It’s daft to lump the lower end of this age group with the higher. Very many people in their early thirties do have a lot of debt. Jumbling their figures in with under 25s doesn’t clear the picture very well.
• It is natural that a lot of that age group have debts. Debt is embedded in the system of getting a higher education, thanks to the student loan system. 
• Up to £10,000 is such a broad range that it doesn’t say much. If you owe £50 to your parents, you’re in that category. How meaningful is that?
• Stressing how widespread debt is can have an unintended consequence. It risks normalising debt. Young people who constantly hear that a very large proportion of their age group are heavily in debt, will not automatically avoid it. They are just as likely to accept it as a necessary and unavoidable fact of life.

Having said that, it is true that debt is a major problem for some young people. Just not most of them. It is also true that all young people are potentially at risk of becoming heavily in debt—in their 30s and 40s. That is the pattern, and it is one that young people ought to be prepared for.

So what’s needed? A good start would be if adults working with young people have a clear idea what to do to help someone who has problem debts. Alongside that, all young people should have a chance to find out what different loan options are available—from an impartial source that has their interests at heart.

I’m currently reading a promising new book Managing Your Debt, which looks very handy in both respects. It’s from Which?, the consumers’ organisation. I’ll review it in a forthcoming post.

Sorry. Just joking. Actually it’s a badly rearranged press release. But that’s churnalism for you.

The press release, and the article, quote a senior corporate PR person from Community Service Volunteers saying young people are not powerless to overcome their debt fears. Young people should “give advice on managing debt by volunteering to teach budgeting and financial skills”.

Sound idea. But there just might be a bit more to it than that…

Insley tells how Sophie Latham, a 21-year-old single parent, is struggling to make ends meet. She has bought a bed, washing machine and TV through BrightHouse. This “enables her to pay by instalments”, says the credulous Insley. You bet it does. And how.

Insley doesn’t mention, perhaps doesn’t know, what prices BrightHouse charge. Her research perhaps never revealed that, a couple of years ago, Debt on our Doorstep supporters picketed the opening of a BrightHouse store as part of their Anti-Shark Campaign.

Damon Gibbons, Chair of the Debt On Our Doorstep campaign said “buying a washer/dryer from Curry’s will cost you £300, if you borrow the money from an ethical lender like Fair Finance you would only pay £3.59 for 102 weeks and the total cost would be £366.18; compared to Brighthouse where the washer dryer will cost you £527.40 and with all the adds on means you’ll pay £7.49 a week for156 and the total cost would be £1168.70.”

Debt on our Doorstep press release.

With reporting like this in the personal finance pages of a quality paper, no wonder financial literacy is such a concern. Raise your game, Insley.

Why not commit to volunteering for a charity, after first making an agreement with a commercial sponsor? A good deal would be one where a local company, keen to help both a young person and the charity, agrees to pay off the debt after a few months’ volunteering.

Ian Wallace, 26, says this is what he did it. He had debts worth £14,000. He says he cleared them in eight months, working for three local charities. And now he is setting up a company which, for a fee, helps people in debt wanting to the same.

The scheme, which starts in January next year, seems to be for graduates. But if the idea is a good one, might it work for other young people? Might a local company help a homeless young person who is ready for a fresh start to clear their past commitments? Would helping a known disadvantaged young person to help a charity be more attractive to a potential donor than giving money straight to the charity’s coffers?

No harm in trying.

This morning’s picture front page trails the story of four young people with debts of between £13,000 and £16,000, accumulated during their student careers. Richard Garner, education editor, has the low down.

But what’s this across at the Guardian? Miles Brignall reports that the average student debt at graduation has fallen for the first time in six years.

Record highs? Or falls? Confusing stuff, money.

Opposition leaders don’t seem to have quite got the root of the problem. Michael Gove thinks the best thing is “to get basic numeracy right”. David Laws for the Lib Dems is bothered about tuition fee debts, skyrocketing house prices and pensions.  

Well, yes-ish. These are not irrelevant. But, as with all education, the trio of “skills, knowledge and attitude” all need attention. Skills and knowledge are admittedly in a ropey state. That’s true of adults, including teachers, as well as the young.

Yet there’s a powerful argument that attitude is just as acutely important at the moment. What, fundamentally, do young people think money is for? What relationship do they want with the stuff?

Young people need to be helped to a mature, balanced attitude to money. They need self-knowledge as well as market knowledge. They need a vocabulary and understanding to discuss it calmly with each other, especially future partners. Without it, even advanced arithmetic skills or financial product knowledge won’t add up to a bag of beans.