Don't Do As i Do, Do As i Say? Evidence on the Inter-Generational Transmission of Financial Attitudes

Abstract

This study explores further the intergenerational transmission of financial attitudes in several new directions. We examine a broad range of financial attitudes that impact future financial health and consider a host of family characteristics that affect the process of socialization in the transmission of attitudes from parents to children in predominantly low-income Hispanic families. We find a strong link between the financial attitudes of parents and their children, but the socialization process differs among financial attitudes. Interestingly, it is not parents' actual saving behavior but rather what they say about their financial behavior that is associated with children's attitudes toward saving.