Greater involvement of families in the activities of financial education can help adults to better grasp the economic opportunities of investment but also help teenagers deal with the future thanks to the acquisition of skills, essential for facing possible difficulties with serenity and confidence in one's abilities. This is what emerges from the survey "Parents and children: how important the family is in the approach to the use of money by the new generations", a new sample research elaborated and promoted nationwide by the Intesa Savings Museum St. Paul with the aim of understanding whether money management models are part of the educational content offered by parents, how this content is transferred across generations and how it is adopted by children.
Numerous aspects related to relationships within the family unit and with third parties were investigated. In addition to the socio-demographic component, the questions of the questionnaire they concerned: the methods of communication between parents and children; the frequency and type of activities carried out in the family; the educational models related to money and its social representation; self-reported money management behaviors; the role of study and school in the formation of the new generations.
The survey, Intesa Sanpaolo informs in a note, was conducted between September and October 2022 on 311 families representative of the Italian population using the CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviewing) technique. A total of 824 people were interviewed: 444 parents and 380 children, of which 224 boys and 156 girls aged between 14 and 20 years. The questionnaire was made up of 42 questions addressed to parents and 45 addressed to children.
Parents and children: how important is the family in the new generations' approach to the use of money?
The picture that emerges from the survey is that of families able to dialogue effectively, in which the educational qualification, cultural level (for example the number of books), income and geographical location play an important role in the transmission of behaviors and values associated with money. Boys consider i role model parents to follow even if the level of economic-financial knowledge of adults is not particularly high.
Money: young people have a less pessimistic view of the future
But more than following the predicaments, the concrete example is followed. Education in the conscious management of money, from a practical point of view, passes from the allocation of periodic sums to be managed in complete autonomy: the so-called "pocket moneywhich can be on a weekly or monthly basis.
The intra-family passage of value models related to risk management, saving and to the social representativeness of money it appears quite evident while the perception of it is less contagious anxiety need malaise: the boys say they are less involved in the stress associated with managing money and have a less pessimistic vision of the future.
Financial education: school does not play a significant role
While the family (especially the mother) firmly appears to be the point of reference in matters of money - the parental role model is felt more for daughters (92%) than for sons (88%) and there is a certain overconfidence of fathers (95%) compared to mothers (92%) – the school it does not seem to play a significant role in this area for either children or adults. From the point of view of gender, the greatest differences are evident between mothers and fathers, while among young people the gap seems partially rounded, although the educational models remain partially misaligned.
On economic and financial issues, the family therefore does not find external dialectical spaces even with the school and believes that it is its duty to take care of the education in the good management of the offspring's money.
Family continuity and propensity to invest
However, family continuity highlights an approach to money management strongly anchored in the past which generates a repetition of schemes which can limit children's future planning and autonomy, even when the intentions of adults may be different.
Also with regard to the propensity to invest the well-known picture emerges: 65% of saving mothers have no money invested while the percentage drops to 50% of fathers. Investors are typically male, resident in the North, educated, with a medium-high level of self-assessment of economic/financial knowledge and opt for traditional investment solutions.
