Why Brits Don’t Talk About Money, and Why That Silence Is Costing Us

In Britain, money sits in a strange place. It’s everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

We’ll talk about house prices as if they’re a national sport, but rarely mention our own mortgage. We’ll joke about being skint, but avoid saying we’re worried. We’ll complain about taxes, interest rates, or the cost of living, just never our actual numbers. For a country with one of the world’s most sophisticated financial systems, we are remarkably uncomfortable talking about our own finances.

That discomfort runs deep. Historically, money in the UK has been tangled up with class, status, and judgement. If you had it, you weren’t meant to flaunt it. If you didn’t, you certainly weren’t meant to admit it. Over time, silence became a kind of social lubricant: a way to avoid awkwardness, comparison, or shame.

That instinct is still with us. British culture values politeness and understatement, and money conversations threaten both. Asking what someone earns feels intrusive. Admitting confusion about pensions or investing feels exposing. So most people quietly assume everyone else knows what they’re doing.

They don’t.

The cost of this silence is higher than we like to admit. People delay decisions they don’t understand. Financial mistakes get repeated across generations, not out of carelessness but because no one ever explained the basics. Inequality widens, not just because of income gaps, but because some people grow up around financial conversations and others never do.

In theory, the internet should have fixed this. In practice, “just Google it” rarely helps. Financial information is fragmented, jargon-heavy, and often contradictory. Without context — without conversation — it’s hard to know what applies to you, your life, your goals.

Money isn’t just technical. It’s emotional. It’s behavioural. And when it’s treated as taboo, people default to avoidance.

What changes things isn’t oversharing or turning every dinner party into a spreadsheet review. It’s normalising curiosity. Being able to say, “I don’t really understand this,” or “I’m thinking about changing something — does that make sense?” without feeling judged.

That’s why we want to get the conversation going.

At Moola Money, we don’t believe people are bad with money. We believe the rules have been made opaque, the language exclusionary, and the culture quietly discourages questions. Financial confidence doesn’t come from knowing everything, it comes from feeling allowed to ask.