Australian teenagers value financial independence and home ownership

Australian teenagers value career success, financial independence and home ownership, but they are unsure whether these goals are achievable.

According to the Mission Australia Youth Survey, 87.4% of young people say that achieving career success is highly important to them, and 86.1% view financial independence as equally important.

In addition, 72.6% of respondents said owning their own home was a highly important goal for their financial future.

However, while respondents held onto the big, traditional goals of financial success, they were not sure if they could achieve them.

Of those who said career success was highly important, only 59.9% thought it was likely to be achievable. It was a similar story for those who valued financial independence, with just 65.5% of that group believing that independence was likely to eventuate.

Just over a quarter of women surveyed believed their career opportunities would be influenced by their gender, while half of respondents said career opportunities would be affected by where they lived.

Respondents seemed slightly more optimistic - although not completely positive - about owning a home, with 71.05% of those who said home ownership was highly important to them also saying it was an achievable goal.

Since 2002, the Mission Australia Youth Survey has asked young people aged 15-19 about what matters to them. This year, over 13,000 young people took part.

The 2014 survey report recommended programs connecting education, training and employment, as well as the development of a national plan to address the housing affordability crisis, to help alleviate the concerns of the country’s newest entrants into the workforce.