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TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - June 25, 2012) - According to a new survey released today by BMO Bank of Montreal, while men and women often divide responsibilities for the management of household finances, they tend to share equally the responsibility of teaching their children money management skills.

The survey, conducted by Pollara, examined how responsibilities for household finances are divided. It revealed men and women are equally likely to be responsible for teaching money management skills to their kids (28 per cent versus 30 per cent, respectively).

The survey also revealed that men and women play nearly equal roles for several other key household finance responsibilities:

• Savings: Men and women are likely to share the setting and tracking of savings goals (67 per cent)
• Monthly bill payments: 86 per cent of women and 82 per cent of men said they are responsible for monthly bill payments
• 'Big ticket purchases': 74 per cent of men and 71 per cent of women are likely to be responsible for making decisions on 'big ticket purchases'

Meanwhile, responsibilities between the genders diverge for two other responsibilities:

• Investments: Men are significantly more likely to handle the household investment portfolio; 68 per cent of men said this is their responsibility compared with 52 per cent of women
• Discretionary spending: Women are more likely to say the management of discretionary spending falls to them compared to men (60 per cent versus 54 per cent respectively)

With the summer holiday beginning this week, parenting expert and psychotherapist Alyson Schafer encourages parents to take the opportunity over the summer months to involve their children in understanding more about family finances as a way to begin developing money management skills.

"It's important that parents take every opportunity to have the 'money talk' with their kids, and the summer holiday represents a great opportunity to not only discuss the value of a dollar, but also to put some best practises into action," said Ms. Schafer. "Using online tools, such as BMO SmartSteps for Parents, is one way to get kids interested and engaged in money management, and to get the 'money talk' conversation started."

Ms. Schafer noted that while BMO SmartSteps for Parents is a fun and easy-to-use resource for children and teens, it is also a great resource for parents, as it provides a wealth of expert advice, helpful articles and informative webisodes.

As part of BMO's ongoing commitment to 'Making Money Make Sense,' BMO has introduced various tools to help Canadians stay on top of their personal finances, including BMO by Appointment, BMO MoneyLogic, BMO SmartSteps, BMO SmartSteps for Parents, BMO SmartSteps for Business and BMO SmartSteps for Homeowners.

The Pollara online survey was completed from June 1-6, 2012, with a sample of 1,001 Canadians. A probability sample of this size would yield results accurate to ± 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

About BMO Financial Group

Established in 1817 as Bank of Montreal, BMO Financial Group is a highly-diversified North American financial services organization. With total assets of $525 billion as at April 30, 2012, and more than 46,000 employees, BMO Financial Group provides a broad range of retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and solutions.