The financial lessons we learn from our parents can last a lifetime — but some may need updating for today’s financial realities.
A recent MoneyLion story examining outdated financial advice highlights Beyond Finance research into the powerful influence parents have on how Americans think about and manage money.
Beyond Finance’s survey of 2,001 U.S. adults found mothers remain Americans’ biggest financial influence, with 31% saying their mom most shaped how they manage money today, compared with 17% who named their father.
“For many Americans, mom was the first financial coach,” Dr. Erika Rasure, PhD, CFT™, Chief Financial Wellness Advisor at Beyond Finance, told MoneyLion.
Beyond Finance’s companion Father’s Day research found dads were most associated with teaching the value of hard work, financial independence, investing and planning for the future.
But Dr. Rasure noted that many Americans wish their parents had taught them more about investing, credit scores, debt management, and retirement planning.
One finding suggests families are beginning to break the cycle: 33% of respondents want to teach the next generation to talk openly about money.
“That signals real progress,” Dr. Rasure said.
The takeaway: We don’t have to reject the financial lessons our parents taught us. We can build on them — and give the next generation the knowledge and openness many of us wish we’d had.
Read the MoneyLion story.
About Dr. Erika Rasure
Dr. Erika Rasure, PhD, CFT™ is a nationally recognized financial therapist, educator, and researcher with over two decades of experience helping people transform their relationship with money. She holds a doctorate in Personal Financial Planning from Kansas State University and is a Certified Financial Therapist™ — one of a small number of practitioners in the country to hold both credentials. As Chief Financial Wellness Advisor at Beyond Finance, she leads five weekly financial wellness sessions with clients navigating debt and is the creator of Beyond Finance’s Financial Wellness RESET™ Framework, Assessment, and Curriculum — a proprietary, clinically-informed model that addresses the behavioral and emotional reasons financial advice so often fails to stick, helping people change not just what they do with money, but how they relate to it. She serves on the Financial Review Boards of Investopedia, The Balance, VeryWell Family, and VeryWell Parents, chairs the Financial Therapy Clinical Institute Research Board, and her expertise has been featured on NBC’s Today Show, CNBC, CNN, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Barron’s, the Associated Press, and USA Today.