Study Finds That Kids Don’t Know Jack About Money And I Could Have Told You That

ByFrances Locke

Money Glasses Happy KidAccording to a new study done by the McGraw-Hill Federal Credit Union in New Jersey, most mothers don’t believe that their children are ready for financial independence. In other news the sky is blue and ice is cold.

Seriously though, the study goes on to note that of 300 mothers, 49 percent think their kids won’t be able to land a job, and 44 percent think their kids will have trouble financing a student loan. They also throw some in tips about teaching fiscal responsibility that even Captain Obvious would think are too glaring to mention.

  • Talk about money around the house
  • Provide allowance and add chores
  • Teach them about budgeting

The hilarious part here isn’t that this whole “study” is an obvious marketing ploy from McGraw-Hill Federal Credit Union. No, the hilarious part is the way CBS News covered the study, as if it was performed by Alan Greenspan himself. They also added their own little gems about responsibility, this time as it pertains to the job hunt. All but one of these tips are exactly like the ones the “experts” from McGraw Hill came up with, but hey, at least they acknowledged that dads exist!

“This is obviously sound advice, since if your kids don’t understand how a credit card works they are likely to think it provides an unlimited supply of money. But I’d like to speak to the first point: The 49 percent of moms who believe their children are unprepared to get a job. If you are among this group (or are a dad of one of these kids) here is what you should be doing to help your children get prepared to enter the working world…”

And those would be:

  • Give them more chores to do.
  • Reward them for better school work (and don’t hover).
  • Talk about work and money in the home (so they don’t think they’re the center of the universe when they grow up).
  • Teach them to use an alarm clock.

My oldest child is still a bit too young for me to gauge how responsible she will be with money, but if I had to guess I’d say she will be fine. We talk about money and finance all the time in our home and she watches me balance my check book all the time (yes I still write checks).

(Photo: Mariia Masich / Shutterstock)

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