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Original poster

Kids money & pocket money cards

12 replies

Sugarfree23 · 03/03/2023 19:42

DS is 12.
DS has a pocket money card, which never has more than £30 on it.

He also has about £100 of birthday money in a piggy bank.

I can't decide if
A, He should have all his money in a bank account.
Or
B, Have a bank account for his savings and his pocket money card for day to day spending.

I'm a bit wary of the birthday money getting frittered away. But I don't want to put it in the savings account that I have for him.

OP posts:

NeedSomeSpace · 03/03/2023 20:06

My daughter is 13 and we have a GoHenry card for her. It's got loads of functionality on the app. There's a 'savings' part where my daughter can save regularly or ad hoc from her pocket money but I've also set up a ring-fenced savings pot that I put her bithday money into, only a parent can then move this into the spending part of the card.

What I like about it is that I can pretty much instantly add money to her card and she can spend it, so if she was stuck somewhere and needed to buy a bus ticket, she could quickly do that without needing to go to an ATM. GoHenry is contactless so she can use it on our buses and also the underground.

Babymamamama · 03/03/2023 20:07

Go Henry at this point. Easy to control and monitor.

LegoLady95 · 03/03/2023 20:14

I think option B. My kids always had a savings account from birth, then from about age 9 a pocket money card as well for small spends (currently use Hyperjar as there are no fees unlike Gohenry, Rooster etc). Birthday money generally goes into the savings account.

Once they get to 13 a regular bank account and card, but keep the savings account.

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Raindancer411 · 03/03/2023 20:17

Sure the birthday money is for him to spend? Or does he want to save it? In which case set up another savings account just for him to put his money in?

Original poster

Sugarfree23 · 03/03/2023 20:34

@Raindancer411 i wouldn't mind him spending the birthday money - as long as he has something to show for it - not just blowing it on nothing. Hence wanting to keep it separate.

As a kid my pocket money was given in cash and I had a bank account that I used for saving.

OP posts:

lailamaria · 03/03/2023 21:33

i don't get that 'he has to have something to show for it' it's his money if he wants to gorge himself on chocolate i don't actually see the problem

CakeIsMyFavouriteAndBest · 03/03/2023 21:35

I got my kids a child HSBC account once they were 11. It has a savings account attached to it so they can keep some money in the current account for bus tickets etc and their savings in the savings account. If they are out and want to spend the savings it's easy to move in the app across.
There are no fees like the pocket money cards and I can check what is being spent on the app.

RenegadeKeeblerElf · 03/03/2023 21:37

I've set both my kids up with proper bank accounts from age 11, so they can have visa debit cards for contactless payments on the bus to school. The younger one's account is linked to mine so I can see it within my banking app. Their pocket money is on standing order so I never forget to give it to them and I can transfer extra to them any time.

KickHimInTheCrotch · 03/03/2023 21:39

My DD has a normal bank account which her pocket money goes into and birthday money etc. She also has a Rooster card (no fees because I am a NatWest customer) and we transfer money over when she needs a top up. If her Rooster card got lost or whatever the most she could loose is about £30. She gets small amounts of interest on her bank account, which is nice. There's about £100 in there but no card or anything, it's accessed through my online banking. She also has a seperate savings account but that's long term and she has no access to that.

UsingChangeofName · 03/03/2023 21:59

I would definitely keep Birthday money / savings separately.

At that age / stage in life they don't really have much of an idea of the value of savings.
Mine really appreciated the money for things like their first car insurance / first time off travelling when I gave them the cumulated savings from tenners in birthday cards over the years.
As he gets pocket money, then he has some money to choose what to do with, uninfluenced.

DancingDaughter50 · 03/03/2023 22:04

Op we have hyper jar which seems the same as go Henry but it's free.

To be honest if you have other saving for him then I think he needs to learn money control now before he gets more money.

If he blows that 100 what better lesson to learn? If he doesn't fabulous.

I would move it, tell him if he spends that on whatever... That's it it will be gone.

But once you have explained it let him have it.
On hyper jar dd has lots of little saving pots and different jars.

DancingDaughter50 · 03/03/2023 22:05

However if that's all his money then yes keep separate

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