One in two teens gets financial knowledge from TikTok and YouTube
- Only 23 percent of parents rate their financial knowledge highly.
- Nearly half of teenagers aged 12-15 believe their knowledge of finances is low. However, 80 percent of them know what inflation is.
- The main source of financial knowledge for younger teens is home and school, while older teens rely on TikTok and YouTube.
The results of a survey conducted at the request of Santander Bank Poland show that teenagers rate their financial literacy low. Vacations are a good time to learn self-reliance in money management.
Nearly half of respondents aged 12-15 give a low rating to their financial knowledge, with only 7 percent rating it high. The picture looks better for older teens aged 16-18, where 22 percent describe their knowledge as high. It turns out that parents don’t feel very competent in this area either. Only 23 percent say their financial knowledge is strong.
Teenagers are positive about their ability to spend money rationally, with 60 percent of older teens (ages 16-18) and 22 percent of younger teens (ages 14-15) declaring that they know how to buy wisely.
"Teenagers aged 12-15 rate their knowledge of the economy and business quite low. This may be due to the fact that, as the survey results show, almost 60 percent of teenagers hardly ever, if at all, talk to their parents about the economic situation in Poland. We should be aware that much of the responsibility for building financial awareness in young people lies with parents. Financial education should come naturally and occur in everyday situations. Holiday trips are a good time to talk to a child about managing a budget and making conscious financial decisions, so that the pocket money received is enough for all the expenses planned during the trip.
The expert adds that the low assessment of their financial knowledge in younger teenagers (12-15 years old) may also be due to less experience with money management. In addition, financial education at school starts only in the secondary grades, so younger students may not yet feel competent in the subject. Teenagers rate their ability to spend money rationally better than their general financial knowledge. This is due to the fact that making purchases and choosing from among various offers is their daily routine. They have experience in it and it concerns them directly.
What do teenagers know about inflation and investing?
Nowadays it is by no means difficult to come across Internet or media content on the subject of investments, aimed at an increasingly younger audience. What knowledge do teenagers and their parents have about investment instruments? 80 percent of teens aged 16-18, like their parents, correctly completed test tasks verifying their knowledge of interest rates and compound interest. But the question on diversification of investment income proved to be problematic – almost 30 percent of older teens, as well as their parents, answered it incorrectly. The respondents, however, are quite knowledgeable when it comes to the most pressing topic of recent months – inflation. The results show that 80 percent of 12-15 year olds know what this phenomenon is about.
Parents and teachers vs. the Internet: where do teens get their knowledge?
A survey commissioned by Santander Bank Polska shows that most children aged 12-15 learn about managing finances mainly at home (50 percent) and at school (43 percent). However, for older teens, it is no longer parents and teachers who are the main source of knowledge, but the Internet (49 percent). Respondents aged 16-18 most often rely on TikTok (48 percent) and YouTube (45 percent). They also often get their knowledge from Instagram (31 percent). More than 30 percent of all teens surveyed point to television as a source of knowledge. The least popular are podcasts and newspapers.
Building financial awareness in children is a process that starts at an early age. The best way to educate on the subject is through frequent discussions with the family. However, older children, instead of turning to their parents, are more likely to look for answers on the Internet. It's normal that their needs and perceptions of the world are different. Still, it is important to continue developing in them a responsible approach to money management. This is precisely the goal of the Finansiaki project. We want to help parents and teachers educate children and teenagers.
Educational materials to help parents educate their children financially can be found at www.finansiaki.com.
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The survey was conducted by the IQS research agency on behalf of Santander Bank Poland for the Finansiaki project. A nationwide sample survey was conducted using the CAWI method with 1,500 respondents, including 500 parents, 500 teens aged 12-15 and 500 teens aged 16-18.
