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Most Aussie parents frightened for children’s financial future
Australia’s parents are reluctant to discuss money with their children, despite concerns their children’s generation will be financially worse off, a new report has revealed.

Most Aussie parents frightened for children’s financial future
Australia’s parents are reluctant to discuss money with their children, despite concerns their children’s generation will be financially worse off, a new report has revealed.

In the age of digital money, Australian parents are increasingly struggling to educate their kids about money, a new report from the Financial Planning Association (FPA) has found. What’s worse is that 68 per cent of parents are reluctant to speak to their kids about money because of their own financial concerns. This is especially true for rural parents, the Share the Dream report found.
“The hard reality is many of us simply don’t know when or how to talk to our kids about money because the technologies, language and online possibilities are so very different,” FPA CEO Dante De Gori said.
“Our research confirms two-thirds of Australian parents (66 per cent) believe digital money is making it harder for their children to grasp the value of real money.”
This finding grows increasingly alarming with the fact 62 per cent of parents also believe their children’s generation will be financially worse off than they were.
However, there is hope, Mr De Gori said.
“Our last two years of consumer research confirmed the Australian dream of living a happy, financially secure, stable life is strong. We know those who seek the advice of a financial planner are the most confident in their ability to live the dream,” he said.
According to the FPA survey of 1,003 Australian parents, those who have sought advice from a financial planner were more likely to regularly talk to their kids about money (61 per cent) than those who haven’t (43 per cent).
Mr De Gori said this was because parents who have regular conversations with financial planners are in turn more likely to feel comfortable talking to their children.
When parents do talk to their children about money, they talk the most about spending and saving (52 per cent) followed by earning (43 per cent), household budgeting (32 per cent) and how much people earn (24 per cent).
However, parents struggle to talk about “invisible money”, with less than one-fifth (19 per cent) of parents discussing online purchases in the last six months and only 5 per cent talking to their kids about Afterpay.
Nevertheless, parents believe children should be educated about these topics at an early age, with most believing conversations about in-game app purchase are a good place to start. Two-thirds of parents think this topic should be discussed before children are 14.

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