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Money knowledge has come a long way in the UK. Pensions have improved. Financial education in schools has expanded. And yet, for millions of adults, money still feels confusing, intimidating, and easy to ignore.

That’s especially true at work. Every month, employees make financial decisions through their payslip, pension, benefits, and salary choices. These decisions shape their future, often without people fully understanding what’s happening in the background.

That’s not a personal failing. It’s a system problem.

Financial stress doesn’t clock off at 5pm

When people feel unsure about money, it follows them into the workplace. Limited savings, low pension confidence, and uncertainty about long-term planning create stress that affects focus, wellbeing, and confidence at work.

Employers already see the impact: through distraction, absenteeism, and disengagement. Yet financial education is still treated as a “nice to have”, delivered inconsistently and often only to those confident enough to opt in or able to pay for it themselves.

The people who need it most are usually the least likely to get it.

The workplace is where money actually happens

For most adults, the workplace is where financial life happens. It’s where income arrives, pensions grow, benefits are chosen, and trade-offs are made. That makes work a powerful place for financial education — not as advice or lectures, but as practical, relevant learning delivered at the moment decisions are made.

When people understand their money, they make better decisions, feel more confident, and are better prepared for the future. That’s good for individuals, good for employers, and good for the wider economy.

The next step isn’t heavy regulation or one-size-fits-all solutions. It’s a proportionate approach that focuses on education (not advice), independence, accessibility, and alignment with systems employers already use.

Our latest research

To move this conversation forward, MicroFact has published a new white paper: Financial Education at Work: A Policy Blueprint for a More Resilient UK

It brings together UK and international evidence to explore:

• why financial fragility remains so widespread across the workforce
• why employers are uniquely placed to help
• what we can learn from other countries
• how a phased approach could work in practice

Read and download the white paper on our Policy & Research page

2mins is here! MicroFact’s free financial education app is now live in the app store, but how did it come to life? Here’s the story of how a simple idea (and a rather quirky herd of animals!) turned into an app that’s making finance fun and exciting for everyone.

A family affair

In 2024, the idea for 2mins was born alongside an unlikely business partnership: father and daughter, Chris and Emily Boxall.

Chris is an experienced investment manager, technology investor and co-founder and CEO of Fundamental Asset Management, a specialist FCA regulated investment firm. Emily is a creative comms guru, with a particular knack for making dull things exciting.

Frustrated by how the finance industry overcomplicates and bores, and alarmed by the UK’s intensifying pension crisis, the pair saw an opportunity to reimagine the way we learn about money.

Armed with a shared artillery of technical know-how and bonkers creativity, they set out to build an app that makes money matters simple, accessible, and (finally) fun!

Building original games

From day one, it was agreed that 2mins needed to go beyond financial education’s tired formulas of multiple-choice quizzes in slick packaging. If learning about money was going to work, it needed to feel good, and that meant designing games that were genuinely fun and deeply satisfying to complete.

Much of the early design process happened the old-fashioned way: with pen, paper, and scissors. Every prototype focused on transforming financial lessons into quick, clever challenges that make players think, not guess.

Those early sketches became the building blocks of 2mins’ first three original games: Holes, Tiles, and Pairs, each crafted to teach, test, and entertain in equal measure.

And this is just the beginning. The MicroFact team already has a pipeline of new games, stories, and challenges in development, all designed to keep users levelling up their financial confidence 2mins at a time!

The MicroFact herd

Every 2mins game is introduced with a short storyboard, and when work began on the visuals, we knew we couldn’t rely on the usual suspects: piles of coins, smug pensioners, and generic stock photos of calculators. So, we decided to do something a little different. Enter the MicroFact herd.

This brilliantly eccentric cast of animal characters brings financial lessons to life in ways that are fun, relatable, and genuinely memorable. From Pots the panda with a taste for doughnuts to Yarn the lion and his pension sheep, each member of the herd helps make abstract financial ideas feel human (well…almost!).

Backed by research showing that cartoons boost understanding and memory, the herd doesn’t just make people smile, they actually help them learn. Lovable, quirky, and at times delightfully absurd, these animals are at the heart of MicroFact’s mission: to turn finance from something people avoid into something they actually enjoy.

Who is 2mins for?

2mins is currently free to download in the app store and we’re excited to build an online community of users who are learning, playing, and growing their money confidence together.

For businesses looking to harness the power of the 2mins method, MicroFact also creates bespoke apps to boost engagement with pension schemes, share plans, and financial wellbeing benefits.

Get Started Today
Download 2mins here

With 12.5 million people in the UK undersaving for retirement, MicroFact is calling on the government to make financial education a legal workplace right. The financial education platform is preparing to publish a landmark white paper urging mandatory provision of financial education for all large employers (250+ staff).

MicroFact argues that, just as health and safety training is a standard requirement, financial wellbeing should be embedded into every employee’s working life. The white paper will set out:

• The costs of inaction – including higher employee stress, turnover, and lost productivity.
• The benefits of action – from stronger savings rates and retirement outcomes to improved loyalty and resilience.
• Case studies – showcasing employers who have already introduced workplace financial education programmes.
• Policy recommendations – to make financial education a workplace right.

Emily Boxall, co-founder of MicroFact, said:

“Financial literacy shouldn’t depend on luck or privilege. If you have a job, you should also have access to the knowledge and tools you need to manage your money, reduce stress, and build long-term security. We want to see financial education treated as essential workplace training; not a perk for the few.”

Call for contributions

MicroFact is inviting contributions from:

• Employers who have introduced financial education programmes
• HR and wellbeing leaders with insights into employee impact
• Pensions experts and financial wellbeing campaigners
• Employees with lived experiences of financial stress or empowerment

Those interested in contributing are encouraged to contact emily.boxall@microfact.co.uk or connect via LinkedIn.

The final white paper will be published later this year and shared with policymakers, industry leaders, and the wider public to drive urgent change.

About MicroFact
MicroFact is a financial education platform that makes learning about money simple, engaging, and accessible. Through daily games and bite-sized content, MicroFact helps people build confidence in managing their finances: from budgeting and investing to pensions and retirement planning.

For centuries, money knowledge has been one of the world’s best-kept secrets. Once hoarded by men in curly grey wigs, today it still too often feels like an exclusive club of “experts” speaking their own private language.

Take annual pension statements. Every UK employee receives one, packed with information that could shape their financial future. Yet these reports are written in dense jargon, squashed into tiny font, and illustrated with graphs that only an actuary could love. The result? Most people squint, yawn, and move on, without truly understanding what it all means.

But it doesn’t have to be this way! Here are MicroFact’s top tips for making financial information mean more, for more people.

Skip the jargon

The language we use in financial education should be simple, fun, and human. No one learns from sentences strung together with acronyms and technical terms. When scary words like annuities or ISAs are explained with everyday analogies, suddenly, complicated concepts start to click.

The FCA found that nearly half (47%) of UK adults don’t feel confident managing their money. That’s not because people are “bad with numbers”; it’s because we’ve wrapped money in unnecessary complexity. Clearer language means more confident decision-making.

No more boring!

Who said learning about money has to be dull? Long essays with graphs aren’t the only way to educate and inform. At MicroFact, we use bite-sized games to make even the trickiest financial concepts and news stories engaging.

This matters because engagement changes behaviour. Research from the Money and Pensions Service shows that people who enjoy financial learning are three times more likely to put their knowledge into action. If it’s fun, it sticks.

Make it everyday

Financial knowledge shouldn’t be a “once-in-a-while” thing. It should be habitual, like brushing your teeth or scrolling your favourite app. At MicroFact, we encourage users to make education part of daily life through short, gamified interactions that build confidence one step at a time.

And that confidence really counts: people who plan for retirement are nearly three times more likely to feel positive about their financial situation. Small daily steps can snowball into long-term security.

Why it matters

When financial knowledge is accessible, understandable, and even entertaining, everyone wins. Employees feel empowered to make smarter choices about pensions, savings, and investments. Employers benefit from a more confident and engaged workforce. And society as a whole gains resilience, with fewer people struggling under financial stress or heading into retirement underprepared.

At MicroFact, we’re on a mission to unlock financial knowledge for everyone, one quirky, bite-sized game at a time. Because money doesn’t have to be complicated, and learning definitely shouldn’t be boring!

Want to help your employees build financial confidence?
Get in touch at contact@microfact.co.uk

Imagine a family of four daughters and one son. All four daughters obtain degrees, are hard workers, with fiercely competitive streaks that are unsuited to family games of Monopoly. Yet, by the time they retire, these sisters are predicted to have 35% less in their pension pots than their brother. They face a higher risk of poverty in later life and may fall short of the £14,400 minimum retirement income recommended by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA).

In this scenario, MicroFact’s co-founder is daughter number three. When first discovering the gender pension gap she was met with explanations like, “women are less financially confident and more risk avoidant”. It made her question, “was I really born with less pension potential than my younger brother?”

A historical lag, not a biological one

The truth is, the gap has been shaped by history, not biology. It stems from a system built around male breadwinners, where women were excluded, paid less, or penalised for career breaks, leaving behind today’s gap as the legacy.

In recent decades, reforms have made a difference. The married woman’s reduced National Insurance rate was phased out, carers became eligible for credits to protect their pension entitlement, and the 2016 flat-rate state pension was introduced. These changes have narrowed the gap, but they cannot erase a century of structural disadvantage.

Who wins when we close the gap? Everyone!

Addressing the gender pensions gap isn’t simply about fairness, it’s about opportunity. Greater financial security for women in later life eases pressure on families and the state, strengthens the economy, and unlocks the growth potential of women’s savings.

The World Economic Forum estimates that the financial services industry alone could boost global earnings by $700 billion if it better served women. Pensions play a key role in this, helping women gain independence and long-term security. Employers benefit too, with more engaged and productive teams, while society as a whole becomes more resilient. Raising women’s pensions lifts society as a whole.

How we’re closing the gap

At MicroFact, we believe education is the foundation of change. By breaking down financial jargon into playful, bite-sized lessons, we’re helping more women (and men!) build the confidence to make informed decisions about their money and their futures.

In a family game of Monopoly, there may be a battle over who gets the car, but ultimately all five siblings will start on “Go”. When it comes to pensions, nobody should be starting the game a few spaces behind.

Search the internet for “proposal fails” and you’re met with a host of unfortunate videos. Couples being knocked down by unexpected waves or outshone by their gastrically challenged pooches (pun most certainly intended).  Soon to be added to this list are reactions to the FCA’s latest proposal for “targeted support”, to help individuals get better returns on their money, which has been, to put it lightly, a bit of a flop.

In one of the biggest shifts to regulated financial advice in a decade, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is proposing to allow authorised firms to give generic investment suggestions, without the regulatory burdens of personalised advice. While the financial advisory community hasn’t outright rejected the proposal (unlike one disgruntled girlfriend at a minor league baseball game), it hasn’t exactly embraced it with open arms either.

Good sentiment

The proposal, like most, is well-intended. A recent survey found that over half of UK savers want more support on how to invest. The regulator’s plan is to let firms provide fast, general guidance, such as nudging those hoarding cash to consider putting some of it into stocks. The FCA estimates that around 7 million adults have over £10,000 in cash savings and no investments, and that between 13.5 and 30.6 million people could benefit from such support.

The new “targeted support” model is expected to launch in April 2026. The FCA believes up to 100 firms will offer such services, many free of charge and potentially cross-subsidised by other product offerings. And while this sounds promising, it also raises red flags.

Trouble in paradise

As James Daley, head of consumer group Fairer Finance, told the Financial Times, the changes are “the right direction of travel – but they must be implemented with adequate safety rails to protect consumers.” He warned that these new support channels must not become gateways to exploitation.

A key problem with the FCA’s proposal, is that many consumers just aren’t ready to be “nudged” toward investment products, no matter how well-meaning the support. What’s missing isn’t just advice, it’s understanding. Too many people don’t know how investments work, what risk means in real terms, or even the basics of compound growth. Before we send savers down the path toward investing (potentially into the hands of advisers whose fees, while initially modest, can quickly balloon) we need to equip them with foundational knowledge.

An alternative path

At MicroFact, we recognise the most logical starting point to financial education is pensions. Almost everyone will engage with a pension at some point in their life, and pensions offer a built-in gateway to understanding investing, including risk, returns, compounding, and long-term planning.

Today, far too few people realise how their pension works, what it’s invested in, or what options they have. That’s what makes our educational app a crucial opportunity for businesses to build confidence and competence at scale.

Ultimately, if the FCA truly wants to empower consumers, the first step isn’t nudging them toward products, it’s equipping them with the tools to make informed decisions in the first place.

Before we pop the question and ask people to say “yes” to investing, let’s make sure they understand what they’re committing to in the first place and give them a date with targeted education first.

Could your team benefit from targeted financial education?
Get in touch with us at contact@microfact.co.uk to explore how our financial engagement tools can support long-term employee wellbeing.

Retirement means something different for all of us. After winning 11 Grand Slams, Björn Borg retired from tennis at the age of just 26. By contrast, legendary investor Warren Buffett announced his retirement at 94. At 69, Pope Leo XIV has only just started his career in the papacy.

The age at which you retire is deeply personal. It can be influenced by a range of factors—from financial readiness and lifestyle preferences to the mental and physical demands of a job.

Ever changing UK pension rules do little to clear up the timeframe. Workplace pensions can be accessed from age 55, though this will rise to 57 from April 2028. Meanwhile, the State Pension age depends on your date of birth, which you can check online.

All of this makes the question of when you should actually retire exceedingly confusing.

Many of us just don’t know

A 2025 survey by Hargreaves Lansdown found that as many as 21% of people don’t know when they will retire. Among those who had an estimate:

• 16% expect to retire before 60
• 50% anticipate retiring between 61 and 70
• 14% believe they’ll work past 70

These figures highlight a wide range of expectations—but also reflect a potentially optimistic outlook.

Reality is, we’re undersaving

For many of us, retirement may be further away than we hope. In the UK, 12.5 million people are undersaving for retirement, meaning they’re unlikely to achieve the standard of living they expect once they stop working.

It’s easy to pick a nice round number as your retirement goal—but reaching that milestone takes more than simply pencilling in a date.

It’s all about planning

Having a clear vision for your retirement is essential. For some, it will include at least three holidays a year and a monthly subscription to Rare Whiskeys R Us. Others will find themselves content with a good selection of biscuits and Pointless every weekday from 5pm.

Whatever your version of retirement looks like, defining it can help you estimate how much you’ll need and motivate you to take the necessary steps to reach it.

How can companies help?

UK companies have a powerful opportunity to reshape how employees think about retirement. While many already offer valuable benefits—like salary sacrifice and matching contributions—these tools are only effective if employees truly understand and engage with them.

That’s where MicroFact comes in to build long-term financial confidence, through simple, engaging education tools that people genuinely enjoy using.

Retirement planning doesn’t need to be nearly so daunting – unless, of course, you’re hoping to retire at 26. In which case, you’d best start winning those Grand Slams!

Want to develop engaged, financially empowered employees?
Get in touch at contact@microfact.co.uk

40% of the UK understand the money they put into a pension each month is being invested. This is a frightening statistic, particularly when you compare it to the 70% of us who could identify Kim Kardashian from a photo.

While Ms Kardashian probably won’t shape your future financial wellbeing (no offence Kim), she still manages to capture the UK’s attention far more effectively than most pension content.

Education needs to be better, because in failing to understand that our pensions are invested, far too many of us are failing to take charge of our finances.

Why are we in the dark?

Many people don’t realise their pension is invested because they’ve never actually had to make a conscious choice about it. Thanks to auto-enrolment, your employer sets up your pension and your contributions are typically placed into a “default fund.” These funds aim to deliver steady, reliable returns, designed to suit the average saver.

But here’s the issue: should someone just starting their career really be taking the same investment approach to someone closing in on retirement?

One size doesn’t really fit all

Younger savers have time on their side – and time is a powerful buffer against market fluctuations. This gives them an opportunity to benefit from a higher-risk strategy that offers greater long-term growth potential. By contrast, those nearing retirement often prefer more conservative investments that protect their pension pot as they prepare to draw an income.

While most people can adjust their investment strategy to suit their personal circumstances, many don’t – simply because they don’t realise they’re investors in the first place.

As Clare Stinton, head of workplace saving analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown, puts it:

“If you have a pension, you’re an investor. Unfortunately, most people don’t realise this, so they risk missing a golden opportunity to take control of their retirement planning.”

Not another gender gap

Pension confusion affects everyone, but the knowledge gap is particularly noticeable in women. Recent figures from Hargreaves Lansdown indicate that while 51% of men know their pension is invested, just 28% of women can say the same.

This matters because women typically retire with less than men—not because they make worse decisions, but because the system too often leaves them behind. Existing pension education is failing to engage the individuals who need it most, emphasising the urgent need to change our approach to communication and financially empower a wider audience.

MicroFact’s inclusive approach

At MicroFact, we believe everyone—regardless of age, gender, or income—deserves access to clear, engaging financial insights. That’s why we’ve reimagined pension education: ditching dry brochures in favour of humour, fun, and clarity.

Because if the UK can keep up with a Kardashian, they can absolutely keep up with their pension.

Want to find out more? Request a demo by reaching out at contact@microfact.co.uk