I’ve been racing around to the local primary schools in the area, talking to the year 7 kids about money, banks and finance in general. One of the most interesting (and by interesting I’m thinking scary) statistics I’ve come across recently was one showing the expected financial position of a typical group of teenagers when they reach retirement.
Of 100 teenagers:
1 will be rich
8 will be wealthy enough not to work
9 will continue to work past retirement
28 will have passed away
54 will be broke or dependent on charity or government handouts
It’s a little confronting, isn’t it, given we all tend to picture a rather wonderful retirement hiding from our children in RV’s or 5 star hotels in Europe. It’s also a little reminder to us parents we need to teach our kids about money, what constitutes an asset or a liability, the difference between good & bad debt and the real cost of a house over 30 years when you consider the interest they’ll pay on the mortgage.
We all want our kids to have a shot at being in that top 10%.
