More than a fifth of 16–21-year-olds have never had a conversation about money with their parents or guardians, with 21% of those believing this has negatively impacted their confidence to make financial decisions. Less than half said their parents were transparent about their own finances when they were growing up, with the vast majority stating they would be more confident with money if it was talked about more frequently at home.
The new research from NatWest’s Thrive programme, which surveyed 1,000 16–21-year-olds in the UK, revealed that in some household’s money is still seen as a ‘taboo’ topic. Indeed, young people said that topics including relationships (29%), religion (24%), drugs (24%), alcohol (22%) and sex (21%) were talked about more at home than money - with only 12% saying that money was one of the most frequently discussed ‘difficult’ topics at home.
67% of the young people surveyed think the responsibility is with parents or guardians to teach kids about how to manage their money, 64% also believe schools and educational institutions also have the responsibility to upskill the next generation when it comes to money matters and personal finances.
