What do you expect teenagers (A level age) to pay for from their allowance and how much do you give?

[lurchersforlife]

I have asked ds what his friends get but he claims he doesn't know. I'd like to give him more financial independence but I have no idea what is reasonable. He is quite a frugal person and only really started going out with friends about a year ago, so it hasn't been much of an issue. I have been adding to his child trust fund and that is currently about £12k so this allowance will be separate from that.

I currently give £40 per month which is just for socialising. Although it doesn't seem a lot, I was giving it for years before he ever really spent any and his birthday/Christmas money went into the same account so he had access to quite a bit which has finally been eaten into over the last year or so.

I'm thinking an allowance should cover any socialising he wants to do (currently not expensive - a meal deal in the park and the occasional cinema/Nandos visit, but that could change); clothes that aren't essential (but he has zero interest so everything he wears could reasonably be deemed essential); friends' gifts; family gifts at birthdays/Christmas.

Would/do you include phone costs (I have a cheapish contract for him)? Hobbies - he has one seasonal hobby with a cost - should I expect him to pay the subs? Driving lessons - he's not bothered about learning though?

He may get a part-time job but if he does I'd rather he saved the money for university rather than using it for living costs while he's at home.

Really interested to hear what others do. I'm finding it hard to think of an amount as he is so frugal - if I'm just giving him money to save it would maybe be better spent on increasing contributions to the trust fund and we just stay pretty much as we are for the rest. But then I think he should learn about budgeting...but then I think he's sensible anyway...I don't know!

DD1- gave £50 a month until she started smoking, then she got nothing! She works and pays for all her own socialising and clothes.

DS2- £50 a month, less opportunity for part time work due to course but does work 5 hours a week. Again, pays for social life and clothes.

I will occasionally treat them to clothes but they are both quite independent!

Trust funds came in at about £500. Just got wasted by DD1.

Hi OP. I have three teenagers and I pay for their phones. I buy school uniform and school shoes for DS2 who’s still in school, and football boots. They have £50 each for clothes a month - that goes a long way as they buy stuff on vinted. They do buy trainers out of that though. I think I’ve been quite generous but I worked it out based on a reasonable amount of clothes needed over the year while they’re growing.

i also give them money for travel expenses and food at school/ college - £80 per month - that’s based on the cost of a weekly bus ticket and school/ college meal per day. I think they mainly take food from home and spend it on extras though! Finally I give them an age dependent amount of spends eg my 15 year old gets £30 on top of that. the older two have PT jobs but are paying for driving lessons/ petrol with that.

I think I’m quite generous (and lucky to have this much to give) but equally well they are responsible with money and aware of how much things cost - they say thank you and don’t ask for extra. They are not perfect teens just in case it looks that way 😂

if you think yours is frugal, would a good start be to work out how much he spends currently, or you think he should be spending (eg on food) and give him that and a little extra? Then he can get used to having responsibility for travel, lunch money, spends etc and managing it himself. But if he doesn’t go out much (mine haven’t until recently) it seems silly to give him a large budget. HTH

My 17yo dd I give her £40 a month which covers socialising and toiletries.

She has worked over the summer and earned nearly £600, this is for driving lessons and towards getting a car eventually.

I will buy her basics such as clothes and shoes but if there's any extras then I'd expect dd to buy them.

I pay for her phone, she gets her bus pass and college lunches on a college bursary.

I think at this age they should have a pt job and start gaining some financial independence.

Thank you for these replies - I was considering doubling his allowance but maybe that's a bit excessive since he's not really spending everything now and still has money from years ago in his account. He would like a rise but that's so he can save...which I can also do and maybe at better rates!

We are very lucky in not having any transport costs as ds will be able to walk to sixth form and has zero interest in getting a car next year, mainly due to the environment but he also sees it as an unnecessary expense.

It's good to teach them budgeting and financial management, so many parents do it all and don't trust their DC. We taught them about banking, credit, investments etc.

My two were similar types, fairly frugal, not much interested in clothes or brands, fairly cheap to run!
I opened them a simple young persons bank account which had a debit card.
I worked out a monthly allowance based on

1. what I spent in a year on routine clothes,
2. phone - it was an old one with a giffgaff SIM so monthly cost was only a few £.
3. Some for socialising
4. Lunch money which they could keep if they made packup.

Paid a monthly equivalent into the bank. I agreed to buy big items like coats.

One thing I found though was that they bought even fewer clothes when it was their money.

At 16 they got small part time jobs. I never changed the allowance, they kept all the earnings. I also paid for driving lesssons and petrol once they passed tests.
All this of course is subject to what you can afford.

At uni we made up loans to the recommended amount plus a bit more

As 20 somethings they still have those frugal habits and both have significant savings and are savvy with investments, both have SIPPs and Vanguard funds as well as bank accounts.. No trust fund for mine born in the late 90s.

Maybe go up to £50 then OP- also could add a contingency if 'you can do X to earn more' if you need eg grass cutting

Hmm - I added up what I spent over a year and divided it by 12 so they get £130 a month.

That's for everything tho, haircuts, shoes, 6th form uniform, going out, birthday presents etc.

It was more than enough for DS, DD thinks I'm awful and she's a poor waif and stray - told her that's more than enough and to get a job if she wants more - I have no sympathy whatsoever

That sounds very similar to me rosemary. I bought them both some driving lessons for 17th birthday but then expected them to pay…cos that’s what my parents did! I do help out here and there if they’re struggling with that as the lessons take most of their PT earnings.

I used to pay for DC's phones and give them £50pcm (this was 3-4 years ago as they are adults now. Would probably give 60 now which is only £15pw.) This was meant to cover the occasional night out with mates at the cinema or for a pizza. But if they were going through a sociable time with lots of events at once, I'd give them more. There were very few job opportunities for them due to where we live, and they were also working hard for A levels.

and I won't buy anything at all including coats or pay for driving lessons,literally not a penny more now

I like the idea of working out the yearly cost of him and dividing it into 12 - I'd have to really think about it though!

DS (16, just about to start A levels) has been getting £40 per month, plus phone, £10/week on his school meals account, basic clothes, shoes, school uniform and toiletries. We pay for club subscriptions, school trips etc. He has to fund upgrades on football boot budget, more expensive clothes or toiletries, meal deals, socialising, presents, though we'd consider extra for something specific. We'll pay for driving lessons to start with. We might need to look at it again as he now has a summer job and has been enjoying having lots of disposable cash over the summer; he'll drop a lot of hours but continue part-time in September.

When I was that age I was given £110 a month which had to cover socialising, school lunches if I chose not to have a packed lunch, travel (very occasional train to the nearest big city) and clothes.

£40/m (less than £10/week) can't be expected to cover anything other than snacks and socialising (and a bare minimum of that, really).

If you want things like phone (£20?),driving lessons (min £35), clothes, subs etc to be covered, you're going to have to up the budget substantially. Personally, I'd rather keep control of the bigger spends, and just keep giving a small amount for socialising (but I'd up it to more like £80-100 p month/£20 per week).

Ds had £12-15 per week at that age. I paid for his phone and his music lessons, provided the basics of clothes, toiletries, bus fares to college and college lunches. If he wanted designer clothes (he didn't), fancy toiletries (dd did but he didn't) macdonalds/pizza instead of cheap college food (he often did) and bus fayres to social things then it came out of his allowance.

Reading this with interest and am going to use this thread to set allowances for my own DCs.

Ds1 gets £60 a month. This covers any socialising, haircuts & occasional lunches if he doesn't want to take a packed lunch.

We pay for his phone, clothes, shoes & sport hobby.

We paid for what we wanted them to have. So anything needed for school, travel to school, basic clothes and footwear, ordinary phone, lessons classes exams and paraphanalia for all their "official" hobbies, family trips out and holidays. Because we were reasonably well-off "needed for school" encompassed a trip to France each and a Music Department trip to Belgium, but didn't reach as far as the skiing trip

Right from the start I made it clear that cards and presents for friends came out of pocket money, as did mandatory presents for certain family members. Anything I didn't consider necessary, such as extra-fancy trainers, did so too. Sweets (though the way school lunches were set up meant that we ended up paying for quite a few not-strictly-necessary snacks). All socialising (though I was willing to ferry both them and friends when distance required it).

We gave them £35 a month - this was from 2016 to 2021. (I suspect I'd be inclined to nearer £50 if starting now.) They also started getting payouts from the Children's Bonus Bonds at 16, which would have been plenty for driving lessons if either of them had got round to it at that point.

S1 didn't spend much, and didn't get a formal job though he did bits of paid singing occasionally. S2 worked in the school canteen for a while but decided he'd rather have the time with his friends than the money!

DC is a level age, they get £100 per month, as this is the family allowance amount. That covers socialising, lunch at college of they choose not to take food from home. I pay it monthly so they have to budget it if they want to make a bigger purchase. It is also meant to cover clothes and shoes, but I still tend to buy them. If they require a specific item of clothing for their college, I would buy they just like I would a uniform.
I also pay for their phone. Did same with my other kids too

I think it depends where you are. Im not sure what socialising you can do we £10-15pw? I give my DS about £200pm, but I cover all bills, clothes, phone etc

I user to give mine £50 per month, they are 23 and 25 now. I’d pay for phones, family days out , clothes and most of their socialising. They used it mainly for computer games. They both got jobs at 16, one earned £200 per month and the other £300 (he also set up a small business).
Neither regularly worked at university, apart from running the business and both are very good with their money now.
Basically I didn’t make a big think of money, I think if you do it can backfire.

DD15 gets £40 a month, but I pay for everything else (she goes on a lot of trips and camps, haircuts, clothes, whatever else she needs) and she always seems to have plenty of money to spend on sushi and going into town.