ONCE upon a time, there was a banker who was so fed-up with counting coins in his counting house he decided to do something for the children ...

Meet Daniel Britton – the hero of this particular fairytale.

The 43-year-old from Yate knows a thing or two about the financial crisis.

After leaving Downend School, he spent five years working for NatWest as a financial advisor.

But as the "greedy 80s" was reaching its peak in the world of finance, Daniel felt he wanted to do something "more useful" with his life, and retrained as a secondary school teacher.

Fourteen years later, he left education behind for another new career – as a children's writer.

Now he's put all his past experience into a new series of books, which teach children about the world of finance through the traditional fairytale format.

His latest book, The Last Gold Coin, tries to put the recession into language a child can understand.

"The kingdom is happy, until all the people suddenly realise they have reached their last gold coin," Daniel says.

"Just like the real economic downturn, in our fairytale world the realisation hits home over night, and the first thing the people do is to blame those in charge – in our fairytale world that is the king, in our world it's the Government and the banks.

"In a way this there is nothing new about what I'm doing," he adds.

"The most enduring fairy stories have always tried to pass on an important moral message.

"Take Jack and the Beanstalk, for instance.

"Jack gets into trouble because he thinks he is going to be able to make a fast buck by selling the family cow and buying the quick-growing beans.

"That's when it all starts going wrong for him.

"In The Last Gold Coin the people of the kingdom eventually realise that the have to take responsibility for their own actions.

"The handsome prince discovers that charity can be rewarding – when the poor old lady he helps turns into a beautiful princess.

"You can read the books in two ways.

"You can just sit down with your children and treat them like normal fairytales, or you can use them as a springboard to start encouraging your children to think about adult issues like finance and personal responsibility."

Daniel believes children are never too young to start understanding the world of finance.

"I think the way we see the world is developed when we are young – and that includes our attitudes to finance.

"Things like our saving habits and our spending habits are all formed when we're still at school and deciding what to do with our pocket money."

The previous two books in the Financial Fairytales series came out earlier this year.

The first, Dreams Can Come True, tells the tale of a poor woodcutter with aspirations for wealth, while the second, The Magic Magpie, tells the story of a mystical bird that can find pieces of gold.

"They all have important messages to convey, about how we should think about our relationship with money, but they don't always give you the right and wrong answers – sometimes it's for the individual to make their own mind up."

Daniel, who gave up teaching last year, is now concentrating entirely on his children's writing.

"I've also produced a series of teaching aids packs, and I've started visiting schools to do workshops with the children on the issues raised by the books.

"It's great fun, and it really feels as if I'm making good use of all my previous experience – both in the financial sector and as a teacher.

"After all, it's never too early to teach and inform children about the mistakes the adults have been making in the financial world over the past few years.

"Hopefully they won't make the same mistakes in the future."

■ The Last Gold Coin, by Daniel Britton, is out now, published by AuthorHouse Books, priced £8.49. Visit www.thefinancialfairytales. com.