Exploring Family Financial Socialisation Activities in Malaysia

Parents play a pivotal role as the first financial educators for children through family financial socialisation. The positive effects of family financial socialisation on young adults’ financial capabilities are well established in many studies. Given the importance of family financial socialisation, less is known about the factors that shape and determine the ways and the extent family financial socialisation is carried out in various families. The main purpose of this article is to explore the association of various factors such as parents’ characteristics, family demographics, and parents’ financial experience on the types and extent of family financial socialisation activities that take place in Malaysian families. Financial experiential learning, financial discussion, and demonstration of financial activities are the three-family financial socialisation activities explored in this study. Using a sample study from Pulau Pinang, it is found that parents’ socioeconomic status, age, family demographics, parents’ financial sophistication and parents’ financialmarital strain have significant associations and effects on types of family financial socialisation activities that take place in Malaysian homes.