Money-wise campaign launched

The FSA promotes understanding of money matters

A national campaign aimed at stopping people from investing their money badly is being launched.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA), the industry's watchdog, is putting leaflets in post offices to help de-mystify the world of pensions and investments.

Two thirds of people who buy financial products find the language used off-putting, according to the FSA.

Posters and a booklet - You And Your Money - distributed through 1,400 post offices will encourage consumers to shop around and ask the right questions.

The FSA says greater public understanding of personal finance could help avoid a repeat of the miss-selling of endowments and pensions in the past.

Worse off

In the late 1980s and early 1990s at least a million people were wrongly advised to switch to personal pension plans from employer-run schemes.

This meant they missed out on higher pension benefits that would have accrued from their employers contributing to their pension accounts.

Salesmen could often net great personal rewards in commission payments for selling the personal pension policies.

Set up in 1997, the FSA's duties include protecting consumers and promoting their understanding of money matters.