Our Upper Sixth boys recently enjoyed two tailor-made financial education sessions, generously delivered by Ethan Waller and George Davey of Titan Wealth Planning, as part of the weekly Upper Sixth Lecture Series.
The initiative began when Old Bedfordian Andrew Fearon (83-88) Joint CEO of Titan, approached Head Master James Hodgson with the idea to equip boys with financial acumen. We then worked with Upper Sixth Former Lucian, who took the lead in exploring how financial literacy provision could be strengthened for his year group. After surveying his peers to identify the areas they most wanted support with, he then met with Ethan and George to share the findings. Titan Wealth Planning used these insights to design two bespoke sessions precisely aligned with the needs of our pupils.
The resulting workshops were packed with practical, real‑life financial knowledge. Boys explored essential topics such as understanding tax and National Insurance on payslips, comparing car finance options (PCP vs HP), and demystifying credit cards and APR. These are vital skills that will help equip the boys to make informed and confident financial decisions in the years ahead.
Lucian explained, “From understanding the complexities of student loans to the extraordinary benefits of using ISAs to beat inflation, the team from Titan covered an immense selection of necessary financial literacy skills. By starting with real‑world scenarios of how to handle student life with budgeting, to later moving towards the realities of stock markets, I and the other boys left with a solid grounding of the financial world.”
We are immensely grateful to Ethan and George, not only for the expertise they shared during the sessions themselves, but also for the considerable time and care invested in preparing content tailored so thoughtfully for the boys.
Will Montgomery, Assistant Head, Learning said afterwards, “Ethan and George were superb with the boys, offering advice that so many of us could have done with at their stage in life. It is rare to have guests who have devoted so much time and thought to devising bespoke sessions for the needs of our boys. Their second session was entirely designed from the questions the Upper Sixth had following their first visit.
We know from recent Department for Education publications that finance and budgeting are the top‑ranking areas that both pupils and parents would like to see covered more extensively within the curriculum, and these sessions were incredibly well pitched. Ethan was kind enough to share one or two things he might have done differently as a young professional rugby player, whilst George gave some honest advice about recent trends and financial guidance appearing on TikTok. He is clearly highly knowledgeable in this area and was quoted in The Times just this week on the topic of ‘FinTok’.”
