Flowe’s Young Generations Observatory on Financial Education Month returns with new interesting research. At the center of the survey – conducted by AstraRicerche – the financial education of children and young people, their relationship with technology and the role that parents and families play in teaching children how to manage money.
The research starts first from the relationship of young people with technological devices, investigating which tools are most used and how cchange with growth. 7.7 years is the average age at which young people begin to use technological devices, which rises to 9.1 years, especially speaking of smartphones; between 7 and 9 years the most used device is the tablet (72% according to the interviewees), while with increasing age the frequency of use of the smartphone increases (for 16-18 years it reaches almost all with 99%. PCs and computers are also increasingly used as the age, especially for school needs.
The issue of the use of technology is also highlighted (web and credit / debit cards specifically) in
relation to online purchases. The use of devices on e-commerce sites is widespread in 38.5% of cases (children
of respondents), with greater frequency with increasing age (ranging from 21% for the 7-9 year age group to 76%
for 16-18 year olds). 48% of girls report shopping online quite often, compared to
40% of the male target.
With reference to the methods of online purchases, it is noted that 66.5% of the children carry out the operation together with their parents while 33.5% independently. The research focuses on the financial education of young people is particularly interesting.
The responsibility for managing money in the family appears to lie with the parents (37.3% of the interviewees are entirely responsible; 58.7% co-manage with the partner; 2.1% entrust the management to the partner and only the ‘1.6% manage the money together with other family members). When asked about the importance and responsibility in educating children on economic and financial issues, 92% think it is important to train the little ones already at the end of elementary school. For the most part, it is a purely parental responsibility: 67% takes care of it together with their partner, the
28% take care of it alone, less than 3% delegate it to other educational contexts. Among the teaching methods
the most widespread applied is education by simulation, that is to push children to set savings goals (66.8%), reward compliance with the rules and school performance with small amounts (65.8%) and
talk to them about money management.
The classic “pocket money” of a fixed amount and with regular frequency remains the most typical educational tool: the child is thus entrusted with the evaluation of spending and savings (25% of parents use it as the only method, 41% instead provide for a mixed form of money management , with extra budget for the most important expenses).
“I find that the issue of economic and financial education is the key point on which to focus
our reflections and our actions – says Oscar di Montigny, President of Flowe – since we can’t
think of enhancing the financial assets of the younger generations without constantly developing theirs,
but also our human capital, that is the set of knowledge, skills, ideas, aspirations and emotions that,
allowing them to achieve social and economic goals, they then have natural positive repercussions
on the whole community “.
“Today’s world is increasingly interconnected and digital natives need tools for
economic and financial management suited to their aspirations and needs, designed for a future society e
not passed ” explains Ivan Mazzoleni, Flowe’s CEO. “The use of cash is gradually disappearing
despite the fact that in Italy the path towards a complete digitization of money is still full of challenges from
undertake. Also for this reason it is important that children, so it is essential to be trained on
economic management, savings, financial security, are also aware of the tools
more innovative technologies and congenial to their needs. “.
Ask yourself why it might be useful to have a prepaid card and what the scopes of it might be
use, young people declare: for 73.8% for online purchases, for 47.7% the perspective is that of saving
for future purchases; for 32.2% these are daily expenses; 28.2% use them or would use them in case of
trips and trips abroad.
According to the parents, however, the greatest usefulness is in the case of trips also abroad (50.4%), because the boys
do not have to carry cash with them (4.5%), to educate and empower their children (29.6%), to manage the
savings as an alternative to a more complex current account (26%).