Discussion
Interested in views on pocket money. My eldest is 4 (and half, the half is important to him) we are thinking of starting giving him a little pocket money so he can learn about saving and the value of money.
Do other people give children his age pocket money?
To add to this his brother is 18 months younger and will be upset if he doesn't get any. Do people give it to both or perhaps wait till the youngest is older before either get anything?
He will have to tidy his room every week as a task to get the money.
Do other people give children his age pocket money?
To add to this his brother is 18 months younger and will be upset if he doesn't get any. Do people give it to both or perhaps wait till the youngest is older before either get anything?
He will have to tidy his room every week as a task to get the money.
We started our daughter with Gohenry a few years ago... Probably when she was 8 or so.... - https://www.gohenry.co.uk/
Works well as she get's an allowance plus a bit extra if she does jobs. It also means I can say have you got your card when she tries to drag me into a shop - which she won't have as it lives in my wife's purse.... I then get to skip the shop...
Bit young for OP, but no doubt the discussion will widen.
At OP's daughter age I don't think we bothered.
Works well as she get's an allowance plus a bit extra if she does jobs. It also means I can say have you got your card when she tries to drag me into a shop - which she won't have as it lives in my wife's purse.... I then get to skip the shop...
Bit young for OP, but no doubt the discussion will widen.
At OP's daughter age I don't think we bothered.
We started giving pocket money to our son at 7 years old, just a few pence and now he is 10 he's on £2. It's not much, and probably way less than others on PH will give but I feel that giving too much actually devalues the whole concept. Plus the grandparents more than make up for any shortfall 
The rules we came up with was that 50% goes into the 'spending money' pot and 50% into the 'savings' pot. He can spend the spending money on anything he chooses, whilst the savings have to be on something worthwhile and agreed by us. We felt that in order to teach him the value of money, he needed to save, but equally he needs to feel a bit of buyer's remorse occasionally so he learns that the shiney thing he REALLY wants might not be so cool after he's got it. It seems to be working really well so far, he's happy with the system and saved for some amazing things e.g. a Raspberry Pie.
The rules we came up with was that 50% goes into the 'spending money' pot and 50% into the 'savings' pot. He can spend the spending money on anything he chooses, whilst the savings have to be on something worthwhile and agreed by us. We felt that in order to teach him the value of money, he needed to save, but equally he needs to feel a bit of buyer's remorse occasionally so he learns that the shiney thing he REALLY wants might not be so cool after he's got it. It seems to be working really well so far, he's happy with the system and saved for some amazing things e.g. a Raspberry Pie.
I don't recall my parents ever giving me pocket money. My grandparents used to give me £10 or £20 each time I visited (usually once a week) - My dad's mum always gave me the £10 and my mum's mum used to give me £20!
That was pretty much it until I got a part-time job to earn for myself, and then when I went to university my dad agreed to pay an allowance of £100/month so long as I had a part time job myself.
That was pretty much it until I got a part-time job to earn for myself, and then when I went to university my dad agreed to pay an allowance of £100/month so long as I had a part time job myself.
The grandparents have been giving the kids £1 a week each since they were about 4/5. If they want to buy something silly the question is asked do you have your money and the answer is no so we get to skip the shop. Birthday gifts etc also go into the money box. I have one saver and one spender.
They also get £50 a month into a bank account which they don't know about which originated from the child allowance that we didn't really need and now don't get.
They also get £50 a month into a bank account which they don't know about which originated from the child allowance that we didn't really need and now don't get.
The GoHenry thing is quite smart actually!
I used to get a few quid and every year it rose by 50p. I would probably not bother with pocket money until they are old enough to understand money and then start with a nominal amount say £1 per week and then top it up slightly if they help with jobs around the house .
EG 10p per day they wash up for example.
I used to get a few quid and every year it rose by 50p. I would probably not bother with pocket money until they are old enough to understand money and then start with a nominal amount say £1 per week and then top it up slightly if they help with jobs around the house .
EG 10p per day they wash up for example.
My two children are the same ages as yours. 4.5yr old girl and 3yr old boy. We don't really give them pocket money yet, but they do get given coins to put in their money boxes and enjoy saving them.
I did a talk at their pre-school to about 20 3-4yr olds a month or so back. I am a wealth manager by profession. I turned that into language suitable for the audience, gave them all bags of coppers and gave them the opportunity to save or spend. I had a big money box and some sweets to give them the choice
All of the children saved half their coins and spent the other half :-) It was a great experience and I think they got something out of it.
I did a talk at their pre-school to about 20 3-4yr olds a month or so back. I am a wealth manager by profession. I turned that into language suitable for the audience, gave them all bags of coppers and gave them the opportunity to save or spend. I had a big money box and some sweets to give them the choice
All of the children saved half their coins and spent the other half :-) It was a great experience and I think they got something out of it.
AndrewGP said:
some amazing things e.g. a Raspberry Pie.
indeed I do love pie... although I do like a key lime.back on topic, my parents took a different approach, originally I got £3 per week c6.to10, then £4 per week upto 13, when it all changed and my parents elected to giving me an allowance of £300 per month - the proviso being that I bought all my own clothes (other than school and special stuff - like weather gear for the duke of edinburghs award etc...) but if I wanted those D&G jeans for £150 or the Air Max 90s for £89 then thats fine but I had to pay for them ... worked well after it settled in but for the first 6mths I was truly a child beginning of the month weekend millionaire!
this was 1995 to 1998
alorotom said:
indeed I do love pie... although I do like a key lime.
back on topic, my parents took a different approach, originally I got £3 per week c6.to10, then £4 per week upto 13, when it all changed and my parents elected to giving me an allowance of £300 per month - the proviso being that I bought all my own clothes (other than school and special stuff - like weather gear for the duke of edinburghs award etc...) but if I wanted those D&G jeans for £150 or the Air Max 90s for £89 then thats fine but I had to pay for them ... worked well after it settled in but for the first 6mths I was truly a child beginning of the month weekend millionaire!
this was 1995 to 1998
I did an initial wtf until that sunk in. Now I've processed it, that strikes me as a smart move on the part of your parents. Decent learning curve for budgeting & I've been pondering what to do with my ten year old for whom any amount of cash burns a hole in her pockets.back on topic, my parents took a different approach, originally I got £3 per week c6.to10, then £4 per week upto 13, when it all changed and my parents elected to giving me an allowance of £300 per month - the proviso being that I bought all my own clothes (other than school and special stuff - like weather gear for the duke of edinburghs award etc...) but if I wanted those D&G jeans for £150 or the Air Max 90s for £89 then thats fine but I had to pay for them ... worked well after it settled in but for the first 6mths I was truly a child beginning of the month weekend millionaire!
this was 1995 to 1998
We have a price list associated with certain jobs. My eldest (nearly 9) can do as much or as little as he wants, but if he wants some money to buy something, then he has to consult the jobs price list and work out what he needs to do in order to buy it. The jobs include things like tidying his room, putting the bin out, helping in the garden etc etc. We have some high priced jobs like hoovering the downstairs, right down to pence jobs like clearing the table.
My youngest (5) can also do jobs to earn money, but he seems content to lobby his older brother to do the work to buy things that he also wants to play with (I'm expecting him to end up as a powerfully built director at some point).
If I got paid at the rate on the jobs board I'd be earning about £80k a year
My own father never gave us pocket money as such but he expected us to help out in the family business (farm and milk round), and he made sure we never went short. He had a sort of "taking the piss" ometer that he used to judge whether out requests for money were likely to be granted.
My youngest (5) can also do jobs to earn money, but he seems content to lobby his older brother to do the work to buy things that he also wants to play with (I'm expecting him to end up as a powerfully built director at some point).
If I got paid at the rate on the jobs board I'd be earning about £80k a year
My own father never gave us pocket money as such but he expected us to help out in the family business (farm and milk round), and he made sure we never went short. He had a sort of "taking the piss" ometer that he used to judge whether out requests for money were likely to be granted.
Eddie Strohacker said:
I did an initial wtf until that sunk in. Now I've processed it, that strikes me as a smart move on the part of your parents. Decent learning curve for budgeting & I've been pondering what to do with my ten year old for whom any amount of cash burns a hole in her pockets.
that was exactly the same with me ... in fairness it never helped me save (its just not in my mindset), but did help me rationalise what I bought and more importantly WHEN I bought itMy parents were extremely effective on never bailing me out either when I went a bits nuts though which really helped, as if they had then it would have been a totally different story
alorotom said:
back on topic, my parents took a different approach, originally I got £3 per week c6.to10, then £4 per week upto 13, when it all changed and my parents elected to giving me an allowance of £300 per month - the proviso being that I bought all my own clothes (other than school and special stuff - like weather gear for the duke of edinburghs award etc...) but if I wanted those D&G jeans for £150 or the Air Max 90s for £89 then thats fine but I had to pay for them ... worked well after it settled in but for the first 6mths I was truly a child beginning of the month weekend millionaire!
this was 1995 to 1998
My (divorced) parents took a similar approach. When I was 17 I received the proportion of my Dad's maintenance payments that were specifically for me. I then had to pay my Mum (who I lived with) a contribution to the household outgoings and what was left I could do what I liked with. I paid rent based on the typical rents for student houses locally and agreed a monthly amount towards groceries and the like. I also had various part-time jobs.this was 1995 to 1998
It really helped me with budgeting and feeling responsible, particularly the aspect of the potential impact on my Mum. When I went to university, I was already used to managing my money and it helped massively. I plan on doing something similar with my children (not the divorce bit...).
Dr Slotter said:
My (divorced) parents took a similar approach. When I was 17 I received the proportion of my Dad's maintenance payments that were specifically for me. I then had to pay my Mum (who I lived with) a contribution to the household outgoings and what was left I could do what I liked with. I paid rent based on the typical rents for student houses locally and agreed a monthly amount towards groceries and the like. I also had various part-time jobs.
It really helped me with budgeting and feeling responsible, particularly the aspect of the potential impact on my Mum. When I went to university, I was already used to managing my money and it helped massively. I plan on doing something similar with my children (not the divorce bit...).
I remember when I was 16 my Mum , without consulting me, decided that I had to pay her ONE THIRD of my take home pay from my at the time full time job at Sainsburys . This amounted to around £300 at the time.It really helped me with budgeting and feeling responsible, particularly the aspect of the potential impact on my Mum. When I went to university, I was already used to managing my money and it helped massively. I plan on doing something similar with my children (not the divorce bit...).
This was on top of the £500 odd my Dad was paying her in maintenance. Of which I didn't directly recieve anything, although I didn't go without the bare essentials.
I'm not sure about the whole "paying to live at home" thing, a nominal token gesture would be more appropriate than having to pay (I'm assuming based on your above post) effectively going rate - the perk of paying your own rent is generally you have that independence from nagging parents and freedom to play music loud or dance around with your sausage out.
I remember one of my younger sisters throwing an enormous tantrum once when my 25p pocket money was given to me as 5x 5p coins, whilst she got a 20p coin and a 5p coin - clearly in her mind, I had been given more money than her to spend. There was no consoling her at all for a long time
Back then of course, 25p was enough for a Mars Bar.
Back then of course, 25p was enough for a Mars Bar.
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