It's been a tough summer to be young. The Prime Minister has proposed to cut housing benefit for those under 25; a report shows Britain trailing behind other European nations in our outlook for young people's jobs; and we've seen university applications drop as fees and the high costs of living take their toll.

On top of this, many young people have a more immediate concern on their hands: many of them will be leaving school or university this month worried about finding a job and a home, as research from Young Enterprise showed recently. It found that just three in five young people felt that their school or college had prepared them for the working world, over half (56%) are worried about their chances of getting a job, and two thirds (67%) are worried about being in debt.

There's worrying evidence that thousands of young people are weighed down by real concerns about how they'll manage their money or, if the worst came to the worst, get help if they lost their home. Shelter research has found that almost three in four 16-24-year-olds think that young people today are financially dependent on their parents for longer than they used to be, and this age group is the most worried about losing their home. As they venture into the world of work, and begin to plan how they'll find and pay for their own home, many are finding themselves lost at sea.

Over the last year at Shelter, we've seen over a thousand people use the resources we've created with Nationwide Building Society, designed to teach young people the basic life skills it takes to budget their finances and keep a roof over their head. It's a straightforward pack to help teachers encourage a head start in all matters financial.

Teachers who've used it told us how important it was that young people got extra help, particularly in these uncertain times. One of their biggest concerns was the common idea that homelessness or debt only happened to other people.

Financial education isn't compulsory - although groups have campaigned for it to be included in the core curriculum - so for now, it falls to us to make sure that we can reach as many people as possible with these vital life skills.

In line with the national curriculum, our online resources cover essential skills like budgeting and understanding the costs of household basics, and explore young people's rights to the minimum wage.

With the prospect that we'll all have to get used to having less money in our pockets for the foreseeable future, it's more and more essential that young people know how to use it wisely.

Follow Campbell Robb on Twitter: www.twitter.com/shelter