The article deals with theoretical and empirical aspects of the study of the financial culture of modern students. It is presented as a complex socio-economic phenomenon, largely based on parental financial behavior. The connection between the development of youth consciousness, in general, and its financial level, in particular, with global socio-economic and information-digital realities, the speed and nature of their flow is emphasized. The importance of financial culture formation and development in the context of social well-being and successful current and future socialization is highlighted. The results of the study (N=174 people) in two Far Eastern Russian regions show a fairly high degree of pragmatism in the consciousness of today's youth; desire to learn more about the financial market, its opportunities and risks, and apply this knowledge in practice. Students are distinguished by a pronounced orientation towards the acquisition of their own housing; increase in earnings; hedonism; income stability and focus on reasonable, not spontaneous, expenses. Personal qualities associated with this - the ability to effectively plan and distribute, practicality, responsibility, developed critical thinking. The main conclusion of the research work: in the assessments of young students, relations in the material and monetary sphere require specific and relevant knowledge and skills, and the majority of respondents, recognizing the insufficiency of their own, wish to expand and develop them. At the same time, the expressed desire for development in this area is superimposed on a low level of real activity. The financial culture of young people, in general, is a phenomenon subject to continuous development in the context of the uncertainties and transitivity of modern social reality.