When it comes to money, most Canadian kids learn from their mom. According to a new poll from RBC Financial Group, a majority of Canadians with a bank account (56%) say that it was their mother who taught them the most about managing and saving money as a child.

Dad came in second at 40%, with other family members coming in at 7%. Only 4% said they learned most from their financial institution, be it a bank, trust company or credit union.

In every region across Canada, the average age for opening a bank account was between the ages of 12 and 14, with 45% of teens doing so to deposit a first pay cheque.

Interestingly, the survey found that many Canadians (44%) still bank with the same financial institution where they opened our first account. This is especially true for Quebecers, who are far more likely than other Canadians to keep an account open (59%) with their original financial institution.

“Banking is rapidly evolving, so we wanted to look back at how Canadians made their initial banking choices, as nowadays money is managed so differently,” said Doug Collins, head of consumer accounts and payment services, RBC Financial Group. “Our survey showed us that, while mom and dad influenced how we first began saving our money, today technology is influencing how we manage and spend it, and whether or not we even carry cash.”

According to the poll, 52% of Canadians with a bank account say they carry less cash today than they did two years ago (12% say they carry more), and an overwhelming majority (70%) say they have knowingly left home without carrying cash. Younger Canadians are more inclined to leave home without carrying cash, as approximately 82% of those 18 to 34 have done so, compared to 54% among those 55 and over.

Of those Canadians who have found themselves at a checkout without enough cash to pay for their purchase, 62% of those polled turned to their debit cards for payment (18% opted to use credit cards; 19% elected not to buy the item at that time.)

According to the poll, nearly all Canadians with a bank account use a debit card (94%), and most use it regularly (64%). In fact, a quarter of those polled (25%) said they always use it, and among those aged 25 to 34 years old, that number rises to 33%. Only 13% of Canadians say they rarely or never use debit. More woman than men said they always or usually use their card (70% vs. 58%, respectively).

The RBC Canadian Account Habits Poll was conducted by Ipsos-Reid between May 23 and 29, 2006. The online survey was based on a randomly selected representative sample of 2,000 adult Canadians with a bank account. With a representative sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within +/- 2.2 percentage points, or 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian banking population been polled.