Pocket Money - talk me through it

[Labraradabrador]

Mine are about to turn 6, and was thinking might be about time to introduce pocket money, but have no idea what the norm is.

the main objective is to introduce them to finance. I was helping them with money related math homework the other day and realised how abstract it all must be for them. I mostly get things delivered, and even when we go out it is 99% contactless card payment, so money is magic. At their age I had a better sense of money, but then we all used hard currency then - mine can’t tell the difference between real money and some random tokens they found.

so - what do other people do? How much would you give a 6 yo? Do you use actual money or an app + child’s debit card? Do you link money to chores / responsibilities at all?

You can give a set amount each week - maybe £1 to spend in the shop and then they can earn more for chores. We did a jobs jar - each task had a value ..30p to wash up 50p mop floors 12p to bring washing down

Make them different amounts - based for maths reasons!!

We do50p for every year of their life so it goes up 9n her birthday. At 8yo she gets £4 a week.

We always ask if she wants to save or spend, if she saves it goes in her money tin, often she chooses to split it half and half. Recently she was able to empty her tin and had £120 so went on a bit of a spree in Smyths but she was very careful to find discounts and get as much as she could for her money 😀

At that age I gave actual money, they got proper bank accounts from age 11. There was a theoretical amount that they got every week but I usually forgot to give it/didn't have the right change so would just given them roughly the right amount every few weeks when we were going shopping - after a while my youngest started keeping a tally chart of 'money mummy owes me' 🤣 £2-3 a week sounds about right for that age.

I think DD got £1.50/week at that age but that was 10 yeas ago, so I think you won't go far with this anymore.

We never linked pocket money to chores. I am not paid to tidy up or cook, it's all part of living together. DD used it for paying for small toys, sweets or books in the charity shop. Now as a teen she buys make up, non-essential clothes, jewellery.

The only thing extra is that 2-3x a year she can earn money by doing larger, not regular chores like cleaning the car inside, helping with larger garden or house projects.

Dd gets £10 a month from me and her grandma. She saves £10 for big toys and the other is spent on stuff I hate buying like those magazines filled with tat and stickers.

I don’t link it to chores, she helps because it’s both our house and no one pays me to hoover 😂