A major regional study conducted by Eastspring Investments (“Eastspring”), the USD 220 billion Asian investment management arm of Prudential plc, found that three in four parents are not sure of their success in educating their children about money.

Eastspring’s inaugural Money Parenting study surveyed 10,000 parents across nine Asian markets to explore how parents are educating their children about financial responsibility. The findings provide a comprehensive view on the perceptions, habits and knowledge among Asian parents about financial education, and how these attitudes and beliefs about finances are passed on to their children. 

The study reveals that only a quarter of the parents surveyed are certain thatif they have been successful teachers and role models for their offspring. At the same time, nearly all (95%) parents surveyed agree it is very important to teach their child about how to use and manage money. 

Indeed, nearly half (43%) of parents surveyed would like to improve their own financial knowledge to become a better role model and teacher. Many expressed an interest in tools to help them teach their child to use and manage money better, including mobile apps, TV programmes, websites and workshops they can attend with their child. 

From the research, Eastspring developed a Money Parenting Confidence Index, which shows an average confidence index of 0.65 among the nine Asian markets surveyed. The index ranges from 0.01 to 1.00 with a score of 1.00 revealing the parent is completely confident in teaching their child on money matters. Parents in Indonesia (0.73) and Thailand (0.71) are the most confident about the success of their money parenting efforts, whereas parents in Japan (0.5) and South Korea (0.59) recorded the lowest confidence.

Drawing on the insights from this survey, Eastspring is collaborating with theAsianparent – Southeast Asia’s largest parenting community platform – to help parents learn more about money parenting. This entails a dedicated content hub with curated content on financial planning and money matters, including an interactive financial parenting quiz where parents can discover their financial parenting persona. Localised versions of the microsite will be launched in Singapore this month, followed by Malaysia and Thailand in early 2021.

“The joy of becoming a parent can sometimes be overshadowed by the costs of parenting, especially if parents do not have proper financial planning in-place. It is critical to not only increase financial literacy rates amongst parents, but to ensure they inculcate the values of money management in their children and help them gain confidence for future money matters,” said Roshni Mahtani, Founder and Group CEO of theAsianparent Group.

Drawing on the insights from this survey, Eastspring has developed a dedicated microsite to help parents learn more about money parenting. To facilitate conversations among parents about this important topic, Eastspring is planning to launch dedicated social media pages for parents to share their experiences, techniques and the tools they use in their money parenting journey. 

The survey identified five main money parenting personas that parents can leverage to better understand their own parenting style. These include The Freestylers, The Facilitators, The Nurturers, The Go-getters, and The Balancers. Parents can then build their individual teaching techniques to deliver the best learning outcomes from their children. 

Visit Eastspring and theAsianparent’s dedicated content hub here.