My son just bought his first house. My youngest is juggling an unpaid internship with a paid gig waiting tables and trying to enjoy her last real summer before her senior year of college. My oldest and her husband have started a family and are discovering just how much more it takes to feed (and clothe, and care for) one little mouth.
The financial lessons we try to give our kids at home are one thing, but there is nothing like the “real world” to hammer them home. As parents we’re caught in a constant battle between the urge to rescue or protect our kids and the desire to see them succeed on their own.
Because of my history helping dentists with their economics, I’ve seen how difficult it is for people who start saving too late, and I’ve seen the power of geometric progression work in the favor of those who start early. As it turns out, the next generation has learned from some of our mistakes, and has taken the current economic crisis as a purposeful wake-up call. This recent Charles Schwab survey has some interesting stats – most of them hopeful – about how young adults are dealing with money.
But despite our best intentions, our financial homeschooling is falling short. While young adults say they learned about money primarily from their parents, just 17% feel well prepared to save money for the future and only 15% feel well prepared to invest wisely. It’s understandable, because many of us aren’t confident about our own knowledge around saving and investing. That’s why I’m a huge advocate for programs like Young&Motivated and other resources to educate kids and young adults about money.
55% of young adults believe they will be more successful than their parents. I think that’s what we all hope for our kids, isn’t it? So why not give them the tools they need to make better decisions than we did, sooner, and with more confidence?
