Introducing the debate, director of Demos, David Goodhart explained that finance and financial education were increasingly important to young people in the context of money management.
Shadow economic secretary to the Treasury, Cathy Jamieson, introduced herself by explaining it was pivotal to educate children in the habits of saving and an "understanding of financial products from an early age", leading with an example from Glasgow County Council.
Every new secondary school pupil from August, she said, would have £10 put into a credit union account for them - there to "encourage children to be able to save and be able to look to the future".
Jamieson also raised concern over the levels of help that young parents get, in an attempt to sort out the carers' financial arrears first.
The sentiment was echoed by Tracey Bleakley, chief executive of
pfeg, who was keen to introduce education regarding where public money comes from and how it is spent.
She commented on how money had become "invisible" and that young people from an increasingly early age were interacting with money and managing finances.
With in-app purchases, she explained, and online banking available to children aged eleven, children had to be equipped with proper education to ensure that their own personal financial responsibility was not burdened by debt.
"What to do we need to do to make sure that we have simple and consistent financial products for young people that will help them build up financial products for life?", she asked.
Anthony Brown, chief executive of the British Banking Association, posited that Jamieson's vision for financially responsible young people would be of benefit to everyone, including the banks.
"The lack of national education and capability in the UK has huge personal and economic consequences", said Brown.
People could get into a "hopeless mess", he said, but commended some high street banks for school-run schemes that would be in the personal and national interest of economic capability.
He conceded however, that more needed to be done to improve the existing prominence of financial education in the national curriculum, with only around fifty per cent of secondary schools planning to introduce such measures.
"Children should get exposure to what spending money means before they get involved in financial activities", he said.
Seyi Obaki, chief executive of the homeless charity Centrepoint, expressed his concern that there was not enough "financial inclusion", particularly amongst some of the people this his charity helped.
Whilst admitting that "things had got better", homeless people still suffered a "lack of financial literacy", with 15 per cent of those surveyed by the charity saying they didn't have a bank account.
A similar survey revealed that more than fifty per cent of people were in the same position a decade ago.
Young homeless people did not have the required documents to open a bank account, Obaki said. They had no driver's license or passport, nor money to pay for either, and so were unable to initiate the process of financial responsibility through opening an account, left "locked out" and financially excluded.
Young homeless people were also venerable to the marketing of pay-day loan companies, Obaki argued.
Access restricted to a locked in structure of repaying debts with loan companies meant that people could only exist in a "vicious cycle".
Support across the panel was also given to the view expressed by Obaki that whilst school curriculum would help children, there were large amounts of young people who left school at the age of sixteen who would be without those same possibilities afforded to their peers.
7% of homeless people interviewed by Centrepoint admitted having used pay-day loan company money compared to 0.5% five years ago, Obaki said. They were "left at the mercy of pay-day lenders" and their access to credit "remains poor".
A question from the audience regarding financial access for people with a disability raised questions over how excluded a disabled person would be from obtaining documents needed to open a bank account- a similar problem faced by homeless people.
Those who were not able to live independently, drive or travel were unlikely to be able to set themselves up in a sturdy financial position that would see their money management skills develop.
Jamieson criticised the "poor advice" that many disabled people were given, who were then encouraged to take out products unsuited to their own financial understandings and capability.
The importance of understanding and controlling your own finances was agreed by all the panel to be a liberty, but one that was not afforded to those excluded from personal finance education.
"Financial education, when you're a vulnerable young person, can be the first key to independence in your life- the first time you understand that you can engage like everybody else", said Bleakley.
Some were also not in a position of responsibility to be able to handle government grants paid directly in to their bank accounts. A remark from a representative of YMCA England claimed that 90 per cent of people did not want housing benefit paid to their own account because they did not feel ready to be in control of their own money.