Family Financial Socialization and Wealth Decisions

We study the relationship between family financial socialization acquired during adolescence and a wide range of wealth decisions during adulthood, and compare the correlation of family financial socialization with that of financial literacy. Our findings highlight the importance of family financial socialization during young age on all the dimensions investigated, except for risky asset holding. The correlations between family financial socialization and wealth decisions are not different from those of financial literacy except for the size of financial assets, risky assets holding, and debt holding. While for males both financial literacy and financial socialization are correlated with wealth decisions, for females mainly family financial socialization seems to matter. Our findings underline the importance of acquiring financial education not only through proper educational programs, but also in the family environment during adolescence, where teens can learn positive attitudes towards money that are maintained throughout their life.