What You Need to Know
- Wells Fargo found 35% of teens learned about finances from social media and 34% from websites and online articles.
- Nearly half of teens and 32% of parents gave themselves a D or F grade in investment knowledge.
- About half of parents say their teenage children know more about Bitcoin than they do.
Fifty-seven percent of teenagers in a new survey from Wells Fargo & Co. say they learned how to handle finances from their parents, but 47% also took their financial lessons from school, 35% from social media and 34% from websites and online articles.
Only 12% of parents in the same survey acknowledge that their youngsters use social media for financial education.
“There is a bit of a disconnection between parents’ and kids’ perceptions around financial education,” Kathleen Malone, a financial advisor with Wells Fargo Advisors in Charlotte, North Carolina, said in a statement.
“While 61% of parents polled say they’re talking to their kids about finances, only 43% of teens report they have had these conversations. It’s very important for families to discuss money — and for our next generation to understand how to handle their finances.”
The survey, released Thursday, was conducted online by Versta Research from April 20 to May 3 among 318 teenagers between 13 and 17 and 304 parents of teens in the same age range.
Investment Knowledge
Nearly all teenagers and parents in the survey agreed that teens who learn about investing will be better off financially later in life. However, 49% of the young people and 32% of parents gave themselves a D or F grade in investment knowledge.
Fifty-three percent of teen girls rated themselves low in investment knowledge, compared with 42% of boys.
“The good news here is that three out of four teens say they are ready to learn about investing, and nearly nine in ten parents believe their teenaged children are ready for it, too,” Malone said.
Seven in 10 parents and teenagers agreed that teens handle money well, and more than 80% of both groups believed that parents are good financial role models for their children.