Misty Harris , CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, February 24, 2007
Paris Hilton may be the poster child for privilege, but a new survey suggests the indulged heiress is the exception among her moneyed peers, not the rule.
According to the Growing Up Wealthy report, today's affluent youth are generally fiscally responsible, willing to work and don't think anything is owed to them. Three-quarters of respondents feel accountable for managing the money given to them, eight in 10 are willing to labour for what they love, 57 per cent say they've been taught the importance of charitable giving and just one in five agree with the statement "I deserve to be rich because my parents are rich."
More than three-quarters of the teens surveyed believe it's important to eventually get a job in which they can help others, while only 10 per cent said they plan to live off their parents' riches for as long as they can.
"Even if these teens were born with a silver spoon in their mouths, they don't expect life to be handed to them on a silver platter," says the study, which draws from a recent Harris Interactive survey of 210 youths aged 14 to 20 whose parents' assets fall between $500,000 and $10 million US, as well as 272 wealthy parents of children under 18.
Fully 90 per cent of parents surveyed feel it's important for their children to learn the value of money through hard work, but only about one in six say their kids are willing to do so. Furthermore, of the young people of normal working age (18 to 20), only 63 per cent confessed to having a full- or part-time job.
"(The young people) have a sense of responsibility but not an application of it," explains Bruce Bickel, senior vice-president of PNC Wealth Management, the U.S. financial institution that commissioned the survey.
He also points to a disconnect between parents' good intentions and their follow-through: Although 63 per cent of affluent parents have established basic banking or investment accounts for their kids, just 27 per cent have discussed budgeting with them. Only slightly more - 28 per cent - have talked about the significance of the family's wealth.
Bickel suggests this lack of "meaningful" conversation could lead well-heeled teens to take negative cues from what they see in the media.
On the popular MTV reality show My Super Sweet 16, for example, a girl whose birthday bash cost her mother $180,000 US declares of herself: "Sophie gets what Sophie wants, and Sophie is always right." When criticized for her family's indulgence, the teen replies, obliviously: "Unless they were crazy or hated their child, any parent who was financially able would do it."
Shinan Govani, a Toronto-based gossip columnist, says the attitudes and behaviour of this country's wealthy youth are very similar to those demonstrated in the U.S.
"Most privileged kids, on either side of the border, wouldn't like to be compared to Paris Hilton," says Govani, who notes that the key difference between the two countries is likely flashiness.
"Everything in Canada is toned down. Even the word socialite, which applies in cities like New York or London, is a much fuzzier designation in a place like Toronto where the whole culture is based on underplaying wealth."
Anastasia Goodstein, who has a background in teen media and publishes the youth blog YPulse, says good communication is key to moneyed young people growing up sane.
"Most stereotypes are rooted in some reality. But I don't think all rich kids act like the kids on Laguna Beach or My Super Sweet 16," says Goodstein. "If parents are grounded when it comes to their wealth and values, their kids will most likely be, too."
The PNC/Harris Interactive online study was conducted between October and November 2006, with the teen results carrying a margin of error of 6.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The adult data is considered accurate within 2.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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mharris@canwest.com © CanWest News Service 2007
