The five year survey of over 9,000 young people, aged 12-19 years, examines the effectiveness of financial education. Looking at earnings, budgeting, debt, and hopes and aspirations for their future finances, the results from this year's NatWest MoneySense Panel reveal a generation becoming increasingly aware of the challenging economic times they live in, and preparing for their financial futures in ways their parents never did. With more importance placed on the personal finance curriculum in schools, there is evidence of a more financially capable generation.
An impressive 86% of young people keep track of their money, up from 79% last year; over two-thirds (68%) said they knew more about managing money than last year; and half of young people are content that they ‘have enough money', up from 46% last year.
Young People were asked about their financial aspirations for the future on buying a home, a car, what they hope to earn and then these were measured against the reality, giving an ‘expectation gap'. Although respondents still have high financial hopes for their futures, this year's findings reveal that this gap is narrowing. Last year, NatWest’s economic analysis shows that in total, this expectation gap equated to at least £76,967 per person or £538,765billion across Great Britain, which now stands at £72,133, a drop of 6% or £4,834 since last year. (£504,930billion).
The findings paint a picture of a generation which although becoming increasingly aware of the economic climate, have optimistic expectations for their future finances. This generation predict high salaries and low debt in their financial futures however this expectation gap has narrowed over the past year, suggesting a more clued-up, ‘realistic' future generation. While this demonstrates a more cautious approach, the good news is that they have not given up on long term ambitions of home ownership. 58% of this generation hope to own a house by the age of 25. This translates to an estimated 2.3million future home-owners.
