Ali Maatouk, at the age of 17, is already more financially literate than most adults.
The sixth-former knows that the standard rate of VAT is 20 per cent and that puts him in the minority. In a recent poll by online bank Vanquis, just one in three adults knew the rate, even fewer knew how much you can pay into an Isa (up to £20,000 a year), and nine out of 10 were clueless about the rate of National Insurance contributions (8 per cent).
