T. Rowe Price's 2013 Parents, Kids & Money Survey Results
BOSTON (CBS) - T. Rowe Price's 2013 Parents, Kids & Money Survey reveals that many parents are just not doing what it will take to prepare their families' finances for the long term. Here are some of the results of the recent survey:
- Many of the parents surveyed do not save for retirement (50%), maintain an emergency fund for unexpected expenses (42%), do not have life insurance (54%), and do not have an up-to-date will (74%).
- Most families that do talk about money only talk about short-term spending and not the long-term planning families need. Even scarier, some families discourage kids from talking about money.
- More parents say they save regularly for vacations (46%) than for a kids' college education (41%). Yet most parents and their kids believe that going to college is important.
- A notable portion of parents (18%) say it's likely they will need their children to support them in retirement.
- Kids do not know how to make their financial futures better. More kids believe they will obtain a million dollars by becoming famous (24%) than by investing (21%). And they are focused on short-term spending. Long-term saving is not on their radar screen.
- Kids are interested in learning about investing and how the stock market works (20%), but some aren't sure what the stock market is (29%). And of the kids that say they know, some believe investing in the stock market is a way to get rich fast (14%).
- Conclusion: parents are not doing enough to teach their kids about basic money skills.
My conclusion though is a bit different. We need to teach their parents basic money skills.
In order to help families T. Rowe Price has launched Money Confident Kids, a resource for parents and educators with money games, tips, and information.
