Money guides by life stage
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We were curious about what people know about personal finance, and if the Covid-19 pandemic has prompted them to learn more about finance. So we asked.
These are some of the things we learned from the 1,501 Americans we polled when we asked them about the following:
If they have spent more time learning about financial matters like personal finance, saving, investing and general economic trends since the Covid-19 pandemic started . . .
— 27% said they feel they’ve spent more time learning about financial matters.
— 55% said they feel they have spent the same amount of time learning about financial matters.
Where they’ve been learning about financial matters since the Covid-19 pandemic started . . .
— 47% said they’ve learned about financial matters from financial websites.
— 38% said they’ve learned about financial matters from friends and family.
— 35% said they’ve learned about financial matters from social media.
Which social media they’ve looked to learn about financial matters since the Covid-19 pandemic started . . .
— 77% said they have learned about financial matters from YouTube.
— 53% said they have learned about financial matters from Facebook.
— 37% said they have learned about financial matters from Twitter.
— 20% said they have learned about financial matters from Reddit.
— 19% said they have learned about financial matters from TikTok.
How knowledgeable they felt about personal finance . . .
— 38% think they are knowledgeable about personal finance.
— 8% think they are not knowledgeable about personal finance.
Who, if anyone taught them about personal finance . . .
— 38% were taught about personal finance by one or both of their parents.
— 42% taught themselves about personal finance.
— 13% were taught about personal finance in school.
When they started to learn about managing their finances . . .
— 23% first learned about managing their finances once they started working.
— 32% first learned about managing their finances in high school.
When they started to feel comfortable managing their finances . . .
— 10% don’t feel comfortable managing their personal finances.
— 23% started to feel comfortable managing their personal finances once they started working.
— 9% started to feel comfortable managing their personal finances once they got married.
When they think people should start learning about personal finance . . .
— 47% think people should learn about managing their personal finances in high school.
— 26% think people should learn about managing their personal finances in middle school.
— 13% think people should learn about managing their personal finances during or before elementary school.
Where they think people should learn about personal finance . . .
— 60% think people should learn about personal finance at school.
— 42% think people should learn about personal finance at home.
Which of the following they wish they’d learned about earlier in school . . .
— 49% wish they had learned about personal finance earlier in school.
— 27% wish they had learned about mental health and self-care earlier in school.
— 21% wish they had learned about time management earlier in school.
Survey Methodology:
The Consumer Sentiment Survey was conducted by Marcus by Goldman Sachs in March 2021 among 1,501 Americans. Savings accounts defined as savings accounts, certificates of deposit (CDs) and money market accounts.