Majority of Teens Talk to Their Parents About Money — But Still Don’t Feel Confident in Financial Literacy

Teens are talking about money, responsible spending and saving, and career goals with their parents, but it might not be enough. A recent SheKnows Teen Council Financial Literacy survey found that teens don’t feel prepared or confident when it comes to money — even after having plenty of conversations about it.

In the Financial Literacy survey, we asked teens about their banking habits, spending, tracking, confidence with financial concepts, and future expectations and found some surprising trends. For example, only 60 percent of teens have a savings account at all, despite 76 percent having a checking account and 84 percent carrying a personal debit card. A whopping 20 percent of teens have their own credit card (!!), while 40 percent have access to a parent’s card. As far as how they get their money, 68 percent of teens surveyed have a job and 40 percent receive an allowance from their parents.

And what do they do with the money? They treat their parents like gift cards with strict terms and conditions — in other words, they will let their parents buy everything they are willing to buy, and the teens will cover the rest.

“I buy the wants, and my parents buy the needs,” one teen respondent says. (They didn’t clarify who determines the difference between “wants” and “needs,” but we bet it’s the parents.)

“I buy specific clothes I want with my money rather than my parents’ money and buy more essentials like food with my parents’ money,” another said. One teen interestingly shared that they “reserve parents’ money for fast food when they send me to run errands, spend my own money on incense and vinyls. Great system.”

With the majority of parents buying their teens the necessities, none of them feel too concerned about tracking their personal spending. When the money runs out, it runs out! The survey found a range of somewhat half-hearted approaches to tracking spending, like writing things down in the Notes app or using mental tracking. “My debit card is from Chase and they give me an email of my weekly spendings, which keeps me in check,” one teen helpfully shared.

Another kept it real about tracking their spending: “I don’t. Whoops.”

Based on these answers, you might assume that these teens have no one to talk to about making good financial decisions. But you would be wrong.

88 percent of teens talk about money with their parents, according to this survey, with conversations ranging from saving and investing to budgeting and smart spending. “Being aware of how much the things I want cost and how much work is required to purchase these things,” one teen told us.

Still, the average confidence rating in financial literacy wasn’t high — an average of 3 out of 5 confidence level in money matters.

Most teens understand saving (96 percent), budgeting (88 percent), interest rates (84 percent), inflation (80 percent), but fewer feel confident about investing (68 percent) or credit scores (76 percent).

One part that stood out is the fact that most teens are talking to their parents about finances. In fact, 88 percent said they learned about financial concepts at home. This is great! Still, the average preparedness rating for money was just 3 out of 5 and the average worry about handling money in the future was also 3 out of 5. The majority (92 percent) of teens believe that schools should teach more real-world financial skills. So even though they are having these conversations and learning about money with their parents, it’s not helping them feel prepared for the real world.

Teens are gaining financial experience but want more education, particularly from schools, to help them feel confident and prepared for independence. It would be amazing if schools could teach about finances, saving, investments, taxes, retirement, and more, to help set up the next generation for a better future.

Before you go, check out what these celebrities had to say about the jobs they worked as teens.