Mom knows best when it comes to finances

NEW YORK — When it comes to managing money, mothers are more influential than fathers.
According to a survey from Ameriprise Financial Inc., 50% of respondents said that their mothers were more influential in teaching money management skills, compared with 38% who credited their fathers with teaching them the skill. The other 12% said they didn’t know.
“More women are entering the work force than ever before and are taking on greater responsibility when making financial decisions,” said Renee Hanson, a Phoenix-based private wealth adviser with Minneapolis-based Ameriprise. “I find that women are more involved in financial decisions because they are living longer, and they are ultimately going to be solely responsible for their finances.”
When asked the best way to describe their mother’s approach to managing money, 55% of respondents said they viewed their mothers as “savers,” 15% described their mothers as “investors,” and 24% viewed their mothers as “spenders.”
Breaking the statistics down by gender, 74% of the men surveyed said their mother was a good financial role model, while 68% of women said they saw their mother the same way.
Meanwhile, respondents were about equally divided in terms of whether their mothers or fathers gave better advice about money.
The telephone survey of a national probability sample of 1,038 adults was conducted in March and April.