Mom and Dad 'MIA' on Teaching Money Management?
Less than half of all Americans learned about money management from their parents – a new survey from Visa Inc. released just prior to Father's Day shows.
The survey finds that a plurality of Americans – 37% – learned basic money management on their own. Mothers were the primary source for 25% of respondents, while just 22% learned about personal finance from their fathers.
Parents who hope their children are learning financial literacy at school will find those hopes misplaced after hearing that only 5% of those surveyed say they learned about money matters from a teacher. Just 3% learned basic money management from a spouse while another 3% stated that they learned from another "relative," such as a son, daughter, grandparent, aunt, or uncle.
In a related survey conducted in April, 85% of American parents surveyed thought that a course in personal finance should be a high school graduation requirement.
| Northeast | Midwest | South | West | |
| Self-taught | 43% | 38% | 35% | 36% |
| Mother | 19% | 27% | 31% | 20% |
| Father | 19% | 22% | 18% | 30% |
| Teacher | 5% | 4% | 6% | 4% |
| Spouse | 5% | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| Other Relative | 2% | 2% | 3% | 3% |
| Other | 3% | 3% | 4% | 3% |
"Money management is a vital life skill that needs to be taught at home," said Jason Alderman, Visa's Senior Director of Global Financial Education. "Letting our children learn about money through the school of hard knocks does them a dire disservice."
To help encourage the importance of financial literacy, Visa offers to consumers it's free, award-winning financial education program – Practical Money Skills for Life. The program reaches millions of people, of all ages, around the world each year. Launched in 1995, the program is now available in ten languages in more than thirty countries. At www.practicalmoneyskills.com, educators, parents and students can access free educational resources including personal finance articles, games, lesson plans, and more.
Interview Availability:
Jason Alderman, national personal finance expert and director of Visa's financial education programs, Practical Money Skills for Life (www.practicalmoneyskills.com) and What's My Score (www.whatsmyscore.org), is available for interviews to discuss the survey findings.
*The survey results are based on 1,000 telephone interviews conducted nationally from April 15 - 17, 2011 in cooperation with GfK Roper OmniTel.
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