Parental perceptions of children's financial socialization

Twenty-seven financial items were included in a questionnaire and 182 parents responded to the age they felt is most appropriate to share that family financial information or be involved in the financial activity. The most consensus was among parents as to what the very young are ready to learn and that children approximately 18 are ready for credit experiences. The items related to knowing about family income, savings, and indebtedness had the highest percentage of parents believing children should never know about that information. Most of the parents believed that children ages 12 to 14 and 15 to 17 were ready to be involved in family finances. However, most parents thought children were not ready to establish their own financial credibility or a credit history and build assets until 18 years of age or older.