Financial planning can take many forms. For some, it means saving for a new car or a first home; for others, it may mean budgeting for a vacation, investing for retirement, or ensuring their family’s financial security. Often, it’s a combination of all these goals at once. Yet, financial planning extends beyond building wealth. It also involves preparing for life’s major turns like illness, loss, and even death. While these topics are hard to think about, such considerations may have lasting consequences for loved ones.
How we approach these financial decisions is often shaped by a variety of factors. Managing money wisely isn’t an instinct, rather it’s something we learn from those around us. Experiences at home during childhood, particularly how parents discussed money, often influence comfort with spending, saving, and financial planning. Yet in today’s digital world, those influences are being supplemented, and sometimes challenged, by the multitude of financial content and resources accessible online. More than ever, financial literacy is within reach for anyone willing to seek it out.
For this study, in partnership with 1Point21 Interactive, Simplifying Probrate surveyed a diverse national sample of Americans to examine how financial literacy influences people’s likelihood of engaging in estate planning. The study explores how conversations about money at home versus learning in the digital age relate to perceived financial literacy, and how people with different knowledge levels are more or less likely to create documents such as a will or trust.
Read on to uncover our findings.
Key Takeaways:
- Adults who never experienced financial struggle growing up are 40% more likely to report very high levels of financial literacy than adults who often experienced financial struggle in childhood.
- Forty-two percent of adults consume financial content on a weekly basis, with such individuals averaging 2 hours and 34 minutes of content a week.
- Americans who identify as extremely financially literate were nearly three times more likely to have an estate plan than Americans who identify as slightly or not at all financially literate.
- Among Americans with an estate plan, the average age of creation was 41-years-old. Among those who do not, they plan to create one at 51-years old on average.
How Financially Literate Are Americans?
Financial education often begins at home during childhood. Parents may intentionally teach their children financial lessons, while others may unintentionally pass down their money perceptions, as children are keen observers and listeners. Here, we break down how financially literate Americans view themselves based on how often their family struggled to pay bills, rent, and other basic necessities.
More frequent childhood financial struggle is associated with lower levels of adult financial literacy. Adults who never experienced financial struggle in childhood have the largest share of respondents who reported being very financially literate, at 59%, compared with 55% for those who rarely struggled, 47% for those who sometimes struggled, and 42% for those who often struggled. Adults who never struggled are therefore about 40% more likely to report very high financial literacy than those who often faced financial hardship as children.
Financially stable families may be more likely to have explicit money conversations, model healthy financial habits, and give children supervised opportunities to practice, such as managing a monthly allowance or opening checking, savings, and even basic investment accounts. Meanwhile, families that live under constant financial strain may be focused on immediate needs. Such families are also less likely to obtain professional financial advice or provide the educational settings for their children to learn these skills.
Some respondents shared their experience with money talks growing up:
“Growing up, my parents were always financially responsible. When I was a teen and got my first job, they talked to me about the importance of saving some of my paycheck for the future, and leaving some in my checking to buy things I may want. They stressed the importance of not buying things I can’t afford, and if I wanted something, to save up for it and never to rely on a credit card. These experiences have led me to live as my parents did financially, and pass their fiscally responsible ways down to my children.” – 50-year-old, family never struggled financially
“It wasn’t really talked about in front of me. My parents had monthly financial meetings where they’d get together and speak about what was coming up (financially) and from what I remember, it was something they looked forward to. It was not a bad experience for me or them at all. It was a positive situation.” – 26-year-old, family rarely struggled financially
“Payday loans were used a lot, as well as credit cards. Casino gambling was also participated in a lot, so there were always a bunch of get rich quick schemes. It upsets me because I was brought up without financial literacy and am struggling financially because of it. My interpretation of money and how it was acquired was affected greatly, since I had turned to excessive student loan debt (my mother had me take out an extra 12,000 loan just so she could use it on herself), credit cards, and Affirm/Klarna/Afterpay plans.” – 33-year-old, family sometimes struggled financially
“Money was not talked about in my family too much. For example, my parents told me when I was 16 that they would not be able to help pay for college, so I knew I had to learn about personal finance. I just accepted the fact of our situation, although my parents did eventually get better with their money, and earned more, so I saw my younger siblings getting things that they couldn’t afford for me. I felt bitter when I was younger seeing the differences in what my parents could get me versus my siblings.” – 34-year-old, family often struggled financially
The majority of respondents described money as something that was not openly discussed during their childhood, often feeling like an off‑limits topic. Many said they only learned about money by overhearing their parents, with several recalling arguments and tension around finances. Out of over 1,000 respondent quotes, only 10 mentioned investing as a topic that was discussed or exemplified during childhood, which highlights how rarely long‑term financial topics came up at home for the average American.
Learning Financial Literacy Today
While childhood experiences shape how we approach money, the resources available today through the internet create far more opportunities to learn and improve our financial skills. Forty-two percent of adults consume financial content on a weekly basis, with an average of 2 hours and 34 minutes a week. Among generations, Gen Z was consuming the most (2.92 hours), compared to Baby Boomers (2.51 hours), Gen X (2.29 hours), and Millennials (2.55 hours).
We also found that childhood financial struggles are positively associated with consuming financial literacy content on a weekly basis. Among those who say their family never struggled financially growing up, 36% consume such content weekly, compared with 41% among those who rarely struggled, 43% among those who sometimes struggled, and 45% among those who often struggled. This upward pattern suggests that individuals who experienced more frequent financial hardship in childhood are more likely to seek out financial literacy content as adults.
Among respondents who engage with financial literacy content, we asked them which media types they prefer. The results are presented by generation to understand what formats these groups gravitate to the most.
Among all respondents, blog content and news articles were the most popular media type Americans engage with to learn financial literacy. This was also the top choice for Baby Boomers, with 60% selecting it, and for Gen X, with 72% selecting it. Millennials’ top choice tied, with 63% reporting a preference for articles and 63% for long-form video or audio content, respectively. Gen Z prefers short-form content like TikToks, Instagram Reels, and Youtube Shorts. Unsurprisingly, as the social media platforms that host these videos are a daily feature for this group, and for some, used “almost constantly.”
Estate Planning by Level of Financial Literacy
As an extension of financial planning, we wanted to explore how different levels of financial literacy affect an individual’s likelihood of creating an estate plan, such as a will or trust. Financial literacy plays a role here, as understanding how to build, manage and distribute assets, along with practical tax strategies, can motivate people toward taking proactive steps rather than leaving these decisions to chance or state default laws.
Thirty-one percent of surveyed Americans currently have an estate plan. However, as financial literacy decreases, so does the likelihood of individuals having an estate plan. Among extremely literate respondents, more than half had an estate plan, such as a will or trust. This group was 279% more likely to say so than individuals who view themselves as slightly literate, where only 14% reported having an estate plan.
When asked about how they created their estate plan, 60% of Americans consulted with a lawyer, 19% used an online service, 13% both consulted with a lawyer and used an online service, and 8% created it without professional help. There were no significant differences in creation methods across financial literacy levels.
When Is the Right Time to Create an Estate Plan
Among respondents who have an estate plan, the average age at creation was 41. Those without one expect to create theirs around age 51. Among this group, here’s how different generations view whether they’re at the right life stage for one by now.
Thirty-eight percent of Americans overall feel they should have a will by now, though perceptions vary. Between 15 to 21% across generations remain unsure about the right timing. Gen Z overwhelmingly feels like it’s too early, with 80% saying so.
With the youngest Millennial being around 30 years old and the oldest being around 45 years old, 51% feel like it’s too early while 28% believe they should have one by now. This is the same age range where those who have plans created theirs on average. Readiness increases steadily with age: 61% of Gen X respondents felt it was time for them to have an estate plan, rising to 79% among Baby Boomers.
The most common reason people cited for not having an estate plan yet was feeling like they did not have enough assets, reported by nearly half of respondents within this group. Forty-three percent mentioned that they just haven’t gotten around to it, 30% feel too young, and 22% don’t know where to start.
Methodology
We surveyed 1,004 Americans. Fourteen percent of Americans reported that their family never struggled financially while they were growing up, whereas 25% said they rarely struggled, 33% said they sometimes struggled, and 28% said they often struggled. Twenty-five percent of respondents were Baby Boomers, 26% were Gen X, 29% were Millennials, and 21% were Gen Z. Fifty-three percent were female, 46% were male, and 1% were non-binary. Data was collected January 2026.
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