YORK, United Kingdom, July 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — A new free platform launches this week, offering a month of daily lessons designed to be simple enough to complete, plus free tools people can use straight away.
Funkled, founded by former financial services insider Dan Russell, says Britain’s money problem isn’t that people are bad with it, but that most were never taught the basics. Just 8.7% of UK adults currently take financial advice, only 17% hold a stocks and shares ISA, eight million working people have no pension at all, and seven million never bother to shop around for a better insurance deal.
“We don’t save enough for the short term, we don’t invest enough for the long term, and we don’t plan early enough,” said Russell. “We are focusing on the things people weren’t taught in school, making it completely jargon free and accessible for everybody.”
From this week, Funkled is releasing a new short lesson every day for 30 days, alongside a new podcast episode every day for 15 days, covering topics from what compound interest actually is to navigating money after bereavement or divorce. The lessons are being created with established names, including Oxford Risk, Invesco, Zurich, and APS Legal, and are built around real-life stages: young adults starting out, self-employed workers, the “sandwich generation” juggling children and ageing parents, and people going through divorce or separation later in life.
What sets Funkled apart is what happens after the lesson. Rather than leaving people to work out the next step alone, every module is paired with a free planning tool, the same technology used by major UK banks and building societies, now available directly to the public at no cost in a simple, easy to use way. When you learn about investing, you can immediately try a savings or investment goal tool. When you learn about borrowing, you can run a cost of debt analysis. When you learn about budgeting, you can build a simple household budget on the spot.
That planning technology comes from Focus, a UK financial software firm that has been building tools for the advice industry since 1993. “Knowledge on its own only gets you so far, and neither does a calculator with no context,” said Dave Upton of Focus. “Put them together, and it becomes genuinely useful. People leave with an actual plan, not just an idea.”
Funkled is free to use and funded by its content partners rather than by selling products. It does not provide regulated financial advice. For those seeking a personal recommendation, it aims to direct them to the right regulated adviser or financial coach for their situation.
The platform is live now at funkled.com.
Notes to Editors
About Funkled
Funkled is a free, jargon-free financial education platform on a mission to improve the financial capability of millions of people across the UK. Founded in 2025 by Dan Russell, it delivers learning through short-form videos, e-books, quizzes, podcasts and social content. It pairs this with practical planning tools and partners with leading financial services brands to ensure its content remains accurate and independent. Funkled does not provide regulated financial advice.
www.funkled.com
About Focus
Focus is an award-winning provider of advice technology, delivering transformational automation for financial advice firms, consolidators, building societies and platforms. Its API-first, Azure-native platform enables scalable, compliant and client-centric advice journeys across protection, pensions and investments.
Focus’s technology is used by leading organisations, including NFU Mutual, Skipton, abrdn, Santander and Bank of Ireland. Founded in 1993, Focus brings together more than 30 years of financial advice expertise and a design-led development practice to deliver world-class digital solutions for the UK and Irish markets.
Media contact
Kerry Perks
Marketing Director, Focus
[email protected]
Images available on request: founder headshot and screenshots of the Funkled planning tools.
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
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