Over two-thirds (66%) of young people think talking about money is taboo, according to figures released by Gen Z financial literacy platform Prograd*, who surveyed over 1,200 UK respondents between the ages of 18-35.

As Talk Money Week begins on November 6th, under 35s are getting candid about how they really feel about ‘talking money’.

In fact, when asked about who they speak to about their finances, nearly a quarter (24%) of young people said neither family or friends, and only 13% admitted they don’t speak to family about it at all.

When it comes to gender disparity, it looks like women keep their cards close to their chest, with 74% of women thinking it’s taboo compared to 56% of men.

Talk Money Week is a national campaign in the UK promoting healthy conversations about money and financial well-being.

The campaign is an important one, as research shows a staggering 61% of young people believe their finances have a significant impact on their mental wellbeing, highlighting the critical link between financial stability and mental health.

Schools falling short in financial education

Aside from family and friends, young people are also looking to institutions like schools to help them talk through managing their finances.

When asked if they think UK schools teach enough financial literacy, an overwhelming 76% of young people said no, signalling a need for educational institutions to do more.

Young people called out topics like budgeting (10%), saving (10%), investing (10%) and financial planning (10%) as top subjects they’d like to learn more about at school.

These topics were closely followed by subjects like how taxes work (10%), debt management (10%) and how mortgages work (9%), showing a desire for young people to understand how money works in the real world.

Banks and chatbots are becoming the new financial authority

When seeking financial information, young people are predominantly turning to banks (68%), apps (35%), and Google (31%), showcasing that the vast majority of financial advice followed by young people is sought out online.

Additionally, nearly a third (32%) of young people are looking to technology like chatbots to help manage their finances, raising important questions about the accuracy of information presented.

Sarah Kuku, aged 17 from Watford commented “Talking about money is important, but it’s not something that comes naturally. I think there’s a taboo around finances which means it’s a subject we don’t naturally breach with our friends and family. Not only that, but we aren’t taught about it at school. Because of this, a lot of us are looking online for advice. I think having those tools available is good, but it can be hard to figure out where to look and which advice is worth following”

The state of saving

Delving deeper into the nation’s savings reveals that ‘talking money’ is more important than ever.

When asked about how much money they have saved in the bank, nearly half of young people surveyed have £0. Even more worrying is that the figures indicate that a massive 76% of Brits between the ages of 18-35 have less than £1,000 in savings.

This isn’t even enough to cover a month of expenses, leaving many young people financially vulnerable.

Ethan Fraenkel, CEO at financial literacy company Prograd commented “For us to support young people’s financial conversations, we have to understand what they need. Our research shows that conversations with friends and family come less naturally, and schools aren’t doing enough to prepare them for the real world. If they are looking online, we need to develop trustworthy programmes that give young people the tools and community they need to navigate a very complicated landscape. Only then will we start to de-stigmatise ‘talking money’ and be able to help young people build a strong financial future”

NOTES TO EDITORS

For young people looking to seek support, find community and improve their financial literacy, visit (https://www.prograd.uk) to get started today.

Exclusive interviews with Sarah are available on demand.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Dana Leigh - PR Consultant - Dana@fivepr.com

Who is Prograd?

Prograd is a pioneering marketplace tailored to assist Gen-Z in understanding, accessing, and managing essential financial products for their progression in life. Leveraging alternative data points and AI, Prograd offers a personalized financial journey to its users. Our community consists of a vibrant pool of over 150,000 Gen-Z individuals. Prograd is the largest provider of Gen-Z insights in the UK, working with major global market research companies such as Ipsos, Dynata and YouGov to help them extract opinion data from Gen-Z.

How Did We Execute the Research?*

For this specific piece of research, we hypertargeted young respondents between 18-35. We recruited participants from our extensive database, social media, online communities. This approach sets us apart from relying on traditional MR panels, which often come with inherent quality issues. The study involved hosting 1.3k online surveys, each lasting approximately 15 minutes, alongside 30 qualitative interview sessions via UserTesting.com.

Why is Our Research of High Quality?

Quality assurance is paramount at Prograd. We understand the challenges MR panels face with data quality - a problem so profound that panel companies are now seeking our expertise to address it.

Our research is devoid of the common 'noise' and quality dilemmas plaguing many traditional MR panels. We randomise the order of the questions and answer to limit response bias. We also filter out any response that is flagged by our algorithms as "low quality". We use Chapta verification to eliminate bot responses. By tapping into our vast community and employing our hypertargeting techniques, we guarantee top-tier responses, ensuring valuable insights.

Respondent Distribution:

From the UK, we had a robust turnout of 1,280 respondents under the age of 35.

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