Wells Fargo Study: Parents and Children Don`t See Eye to Eye When It Comes to Money

New Wells Fargo Study: Parents and Children Differ in Confidence About Attaining
Financial Goals
SAN FRANCISCO--(Business Wire)--
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) today announced results of a recent survey that
shows parents and their 18 to 22-year-old children don`t always see eye to eye
when it comes to managing personal finances.

The survey shows 95 percent of parents say they`re confident their children will
attain their financial goals, but only 5 percent of the young adults surveyed
said they had such confidence about their personal finance goals.

The survey also showed parents` top three priorities for their children are to
find a job, pay off student loans and pay off their credit cards and debt. Youth
said their top three were to buy a car, find a job and buy a home.

Parents and young adults also have very different views on budgeting -
increasingly important as the economic downturn continues. Ninety-five percent
of youth said a budget is not effective for them, compared to 92 percent of
parents who indicated budgets are effective. Parents are more likely to maintain
a paper-based or computer-based budget versus online. Youth, however, are evenly
divided on how they keep their budget - paper-based, computer-based or online.

"The survey shows there`s a huge knowledge gap between the generations when it
comes to money management and there`s a need for more education," said Stephanie
Smith, senior vice president at Wells Fargo Internet Services Group.

The survey also asked young adults about financial terms and concepts:

* 41 percent know what a credit score is (parents, 75 percent);
* 28 percent understand annual percentage rates (parents, 73 percent);
* 23 percent understand a 401(K) (parents, 73 percent);
* 31 percent understand compound interest (parents, 64 percent).

Survey results also revealed parents are more concerned about the economy than
their children.

* While just 22 percent of youth are concerned about having enough money to
finish college, for parents, the figure jumped to 46 percent.
* 38 percent of youth are concerned about finding a job (parents, 52 percent
concerned about their kids finding a job).
* 21 percent of youth are concerned about the U.S. stock market (parents, 41
percent).

Parents and their children are on the same page about the effect of the economy
on their budgeting. Both say they`re cutting back on certain spending and
managing their money more effectively.

Wells Fargo surveyed more than 1,000 parents and 600 young adults, aged 18 to
22, to identify similarities and differences in behaviors and attitudes toward
personal financial management. The survey asked parents about their children`s
personal financial management practices and compared their responses to those of
the young adults surveyed.

Wells Fargo offers critically needed financial education to students and adults
nationwide with Hands on Banking®/ El futuro en tus manos®, a free, fun,
non-commercial program available in both English and Spanish.The Hands on
Banking program teaches people in all stages of life about the basics of
responsible money management, including how to create a budget, save and invest,
borrow responsibly, buy a home and establish a small business.

Wells Fargo also provides:

* My Spending Report with Budget Watch: A free online money management tool that
helps customers create a budget in as few as two clicks and monitors their
progress throughout the month, so they can identify opportunities to spend less
- delivering the information customers need to stay on budget and gain more
control of their finances.
* My Savings PlanSM: A free online tool that provides Wells Fargo savings
account customers an easy way to save toward a goal, automatically monitoring
progress.
* Wells Fargo MobileSM
Banking: Secure, mobile account access ensures that key banking tasks
such as checking account balances, moving money between Wells Fargo accounts and
paying bills can be done on the go. Wells Fargo Mobile Banking is fully iPhoneTM
and iPod® touch-optimized.
* Smarter CreditTM center: An online resource that provides information and
services to help customers be smarter about credit - whether it`s establishing
credit for the first time, reducing debt, getting more credit, or managing and
protecting credit for the long term.
* Student LoanDownSM Blog:A blog about financing college education and managing
debt. The blog provides an opportunity for dialogue about funding higher
education and managing credit via a channel young adults are comfortable using.

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $1.3
trillion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and
consumer finance through more than 10,400 stores, over 12,000 ATMs and the
internet (wellsfargo.com) across North America and internationally.

Wells Fargo & Company
Andrea Mahoney, 415-222-4722 (Media)
Catherine Gacad, 415-396-8454 (Investors)

Copyright Business Wire 2009