Teaching Children About Money: Prospective Parenting Ideas From Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Many Millennials (aged 18–30 in 2016) are struggling with financial capability and independence. As efforts unfold to address this issue by improving financial education, Millennials themselves can offer helpful family-centered ideas for children’s financial learning. As part of the Whats and Hows of Family Financial $ocialization project, this qualitative study explored the ideas of 126 undergraduate students enrolled in family finance classes at three institutions from three regions of the United States about how and what they intend to teach their future children about finances. Thematic content analysis and coding of interviews revealed four core themes: (a) “Communicating Family Finances,” (b) “Opportunities for Responsibility,” (c) “The Value of Hard Work,” and (d) “The Process of Saving.” These findings have implications for parents, future parents, financial counselors, financial planners, family life educators, financial educators, therapists, and researchers in improving parental financial education for future generations.