Gap between adult and teenagers' expectations of future earnings
The majority of adults think today’s teens will be worse off than them in the future, but teenaged children expect to earn twice the average wage, according to the RBS MoneySense Research Panel.
The panel findings show that English teens expect to earn most (£57,000), compared to those in Northern Ireland who anticipate earning £39,000. Both are significantly above the actual rate of £24,000. Nine out of 10 children think it’s important to learn about money, and are more concerned about debt than any other year since 2007. Some 71% of young people would like their parents to teach them about finance.
This strongly contrasts with adults' opinions. The majority of adults believe teens will be earning £25k at the age of 35. Nearly 80% of parents don’t consider money a top priority to discuss with their children and despite teens wanting to talk to their parents about finance, only 36% of adults actually feel qualified to discuss it.
Andrew Cave from RBS Group Community Affairs said: "We know from our research that children want to learn about money, and we know that they instinctively look to their parents. But we also know a lot of adults don’t feel comfortable talking about money with their children, only 18% of them could very confidently describe what an APR is. That’s one of the reasons why RBS believes it’s more important than ever to educate young people about money in the classroom. We believe every child should leave school armed with the ability to manage their money and the skills to make the best financial decisions for their future."
This panel report is in its fifth and final year and in total has interviewed over 50,000 young people up and down the country. The aim of the five-year project has been to speak to children between the ages of 12 and 19 to discover their opinions, attitudes and understandings of cash and how it works in the modern world.
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