Survey Finds Millennials Actually Take Their Parents’ Money Advice

July 7, 2018

2 min Read

Older mother and daughter spending time together at home drinking coffee and discussing.

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The majority of millennials surveyed said their parents had given them financial advice.
The most common topic that millennials discuss with their parents is the importance of saving.

Crippling student loan debt and credit card debt leave very few millennials with the means to seek out a traditional financial advisor. But they need financial advice just the same.

For these millennials, mom and dad play the role of financial advisor. More than half of millennials feel their parents prepared them well to make good financial decisions, and 78.5 percent of U.S. millennials say their parents have given them financial advice, according to a 2017 Instamotor survey.

Here’s what millennials are talking about with their parents.

The stereotypical narrative is that millennials don’t have much money left over to save after shelling it out for rent, car payments and student loans. However, saving was the most commonly discussed topic between adult children and their parents; nearly 72 percent of survey respondents said they talked about it. Nearly 60 percent said they discussed budgeting, and almost half said they talked about debt from credit cards and loans. Investing, including stocks, bonds and 401k accounts, was at the bottom of the list of financial topics discussed, with a little over a third of respondents saying they talked about it with their parents.

When it comes to finances, the generation gap isn’t all that broad because many financial and mathematical principles are evergreen. For parents of millennials, talking to your adult children about finances should be a discussion instead of a lecture.

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Check Out: 20 Things Your Kids Can Learn From Your Retirement

Rather than bankrolling your children’s expenses, discuss budgeting and money management with them. Being deliberate and thoughtful about the financial advice you give can mean the difference between fostering an ongoing dialogue or putting a permanent pause on the topic.

For the most modern take on talking finances with your family, check out seven of the best apps to teach kids about money.

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