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Posthaste: Feel anxious about your finances? Blame your parents Back to video

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Canadians who feel shame and anxiety over their finances might have their parents to blame for their money shortcomings, new research suggests.

A majority, or 65 per cent, of Canadian parents say their own parents’ relationship with money has directly impacted their financial lives, according to a survey released this morning by Leger for Mydoh, a money management app for young people backed by the Royal Bank of Canada. More than half of those surveyed think their parents didn’t do enough to teach them financial basics, such as budgeting.

That’s led to a collective sense of angst when it comes to money matters. Overall, parents of children ages 6 to 18 say they carry shame and doubt around their financial management skills, the survey said, and 62 per cent say their mental health has taken a hit thanks to poor financial decisions.

Many point the finger directly at their parents for such financial woes. Of the parents surveyed, 46 per cent say they want to unlearn bad behaviour modelled by their families, such as taking on debt, not sticking to a budget, or failing to save.

The results imply financial skills can be passed down through generations, Mydoh said.

“A child’s formative years are extremely important, and what we are seeing is that financial habits — both money decisions and anxieties around money — are inherited from their parents, creating an unsustainable generational cycle,” Sammer Haq, head of Data and Analytics at Mydoh, said in a press release.

The good news is that all that money angst means parents today have a greater awareness of the need to better teach financial literacy skills to their own kids. Indeed, 90 per cent of parents said instilling money skills in their children was their top priority. But, given their own experiences, many aren’t confident they will succeed, the survey said.

One avenue toward success is openly talking about money, instead of shrouding it in shame or secrecy. Parents can also try implementing an allowance system and pay their kids for doing chores around the house. From there, they can help children build lifelong financial skills by teaching them budgeting basics. Making the process fun, perhaps by “gamifying” the process with a money-management app, might be the cherry on top to ensure the lessons stick into adulthood, Mydoh said.

“The goal for parents needs to be breaking the cycle,” Angelique de Montbrun, chief marketing officer at Mydoh, said in a release.

“They can do this by proactively planning, as a family, to build these healthy habits together.”

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TROUBLE IN PARADISE Aging Canadians have looked to South Florida for affordable winter-month properties for decades, but stiff competition in the rental and homeownership markets, compounded by the rising cost of living and a languishing loonie, are making it more difficult for the nation’s snowbirds to enjoy paradise the way they once did. The Financial Post’s Shantaé Campbell explains what’s going on down south. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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Canadians were feeling somewhat better about the economy heading into October, although only because more households had begun stashing away money in anticipation of a rough patch, according to a poll from Maru Public Opinion. The pollster’s latest Canadian household outlook index rose to 93 in September from 90 in August.

Any score below 100 is indicative of a negative sentiment, while scores above 100 are considered positive, so Canadians were far from enthusiastic about the economy as summer turned to fall.

Though the latest results are directionally positive, the numbers suggest the mood of consumers is dour, dictated more by high inflation and rising interest rates than a strong labour market and rising wages, Households are feeling bleak about Canada’s economic prospects this fall.

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With back to school and Thanksgiving now behind us, it’s time to start thinking about Christmas. Before you know it, the winter holiday season and Dec. 25 will be here. That means you only have 11 weeks, or five bi-weekly pay periods to prepare. Personal finance columnist Sandra Fry provides some planning tips to make your Christmas and holiday season both merry and money-wise.

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Today’s Posthaste was written by Victoria Wells (@vwells80), with additional reporting from The Canadian Press, Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg.

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