How much money do you give your teens?

[Ragatha]

I have a 13 year old and 17 year old and currently give them some pocket money plus more money when they need it.

I want to give them a bit more money as pocket money but then the have to learn to budget and stop treating me like a money tree!

How much do your teens get?

My 17 year old earns his own money now but I do still pay for his phone and gym. When he was 13 he got £10 a week if he did his chores

Nothing. But I will pay for any books or exercise they want to do. I pay phone. If they want anything on top of that, they can earn it. Both since 14 have picked up babysitting or tutoring jobs all the time, or I can give them a big job around our house, like cleaning windows, for £10 an hour.

A tenner a month! But I pay for everything. It's just fun money for them.

£10 a week cash but we pay phone contract, Spotify, gym membership, shooting range time, bus ticket, boxing classes and PlayStation subscription so he gets a very good deal we think

Eldest nothing as she’s worked as a lifeguard since 16, but I pay her phone & contacts plus train pass. Youngest 14 gets £20 a month and then hoovers & cleans both our cars if she wants more. Plus I buy her clothes, phone and travel pass.

16 year old gets £60/month, which I always feel is a lot, until I remember that is what I was getting nearly 40 years ago. The difference was that once my mum started giving me that much, it had to cover everything, buses, trains, clothes, days out etc. It was more 'allowance' than pocket money.

I don't expect DS to buy all his clothes out of his £60 but it does cover his fun stuff plus hair cuts and his Vinted/Depop habit.

My 15 year old gets £30 a month and my 12 year old £20 a month (it’ll go up at the same age). I pay for phones, clothes, extra curriculars. I will give them money if they go out with friends or on holiday, school trips etc. We save for them separately (they’re not allowed to access that).

Ive never linked money to chores. Chores are expected as part of living respectfully as a family. But money is used as a reward/punishment around behaviour/school success etc.

I was really hoping for sixth form DS would get a part time job as his dad and I did, but it seems to be really difficult for young people to get part time jobs these days! So I will re-evaluate that when we get there. But my aim for 17 was that we would continue to do all of the above (except the pocket money), will provide a car/fuel/insurance etc for him but I’d expect him to start earning to pay for his own fun money. But we’ll see how easy it is to get a job next year.

My 17 year old has a part time job around studies. So he doesn't get pocket money. I still pay for his clothes unless he wants expensive designer stuff new. I will buy them off vinted instead though. I occasionally give him extra as a treat. 12 year old £5 a week. Thats just fun money, like if she wants a drink from the shop when hanging out with friends. If she was does any activities I pay.

Thanks everyone.

I want them both to start budgeting - my 17 year old especially as he's off to uni next year. I worry that if they just ask me for money all the time, they'll never learn.

I guess it is an allowance I want to start giving him instead of pocket money.

At 13, they got £40 per month.

My 17 year old gets £200 per month to cover lunch at college, travel costs and she saves the rest for birthday gifts etc. We give her money as and when she asks for clothes, make up, going out with friends etc. some months it could be hundreds, other months nothing.

We did the same with oldest and he’s really good with money.

@TripBlip I like the idea of directly giving them the money you’d be giving anyway (for food, transport etc) that probably helps them budget and understand it’s worth more. I started telling DS how much I budget for his clothes so he understands the impact of brands, benefit of buying second hand etc, but will definitely think about expanding on that as you have done.

DD15 gets £50 a month and we pay for her phone and gym, plus any sports fees. We do still buy her some clothes, especially around holidays or change of season, but she will buy non necessity stuff herself. We pay for gig tickets usually too as they’re so expensive now they’d basically take up her whole allowance for months.

My sixth former gets £150 a month (plus bus pass and basic phone contract). I explained at the beginning what it needed to cover - essentially I don't expect to be asked for money on top of that amount.

I do cover other things as they crop up if it's something related to education or a skill. And I pay for any days out together etc (even if they are welcome not to come).

13 year old gets

£5 a week
50p per positive behaviour point (usually an additional £3 a week)
gym
phone

And usually a £20 top up once a month for an outing or some such

Nothing set, just as and when they need it. It’s never too often thankfully.

I give them a euro per year of age - but in reality, they don't spend any of it really - maybe the occasional computer game in the holidays (which I actually tend to pay for and never claim back as they're not greedy kids and a computer game in the holidays doesn't seem an unreasonable ask)

We live rurally, so I drive them to school, and they have no interest in shopping/clothes and they have no chance/desire to go to the shops just randomly - very much limits their spending.

Plus I have always been strongly against pay to play, so no robux/season passes (well, a couple for fortnite a very long time ago - again in the holidays/for a special even that they were interested in), or any of the other computer-game money-pits.

14yo gets a tenner a week in his bank account, not linked to regular chores as these are expected (keeping own room tidy, unloading the dishwasher type stuff) although he does have the option of earning extra money by doing random jobs like cleaning our cars or weeding the front driveway.
We pay for everything else so the money is just for him to decide whether he wants to buy himself snacks from the local shop or save for something. He’s more of a saver by default as he doesn’t do a load with friends, he’s quite sporty and does a lot of football and cricket which takes up quite a bit of his ‘free time’ and quite lazy with regards to organising things with his friends 😂 so his money builds up for a few months and then he’ll remember it’s there and buy himself a football shirt/trainers or something.
his older siblings had the same amount, raised to £15 per week when they went to college but they both had jobs (oldest was 14 when she started working and the middle one was 16) so supplemented their spending.
They’ve never asked for extra money, we have it to give but they’ve just been quite good at budgeting by themselves.

DS14 gets £10 a week but we pay for phone, Spotify, PlayStation etc. £10 doesn’t last him though! He has started going into town, so sometimes I give him more depending on if he’s been helpful etc

It depends what you want it to cover.
Phone? Gym/club memberships? Travel? Socialising? All clothes, or will you provide basics and expect them to pay for extras? What is their peer group like - if their peer group socialise in coffee shops they will need more money than if it's a drink from Poundland and sit in the park.

Why not consider how much you currently give them in an ad-hoc way to cover the things that you want the allowance to cover?

My 13 year old has a job. She makes about £100 a month depending on her hours. So I don’t really pay her pocket money, but there are sometimes when she needs money for something and I would transfer money to her for that on an ad hoc basis.

Mine is 14. He gets £100 a month for whatever he wants to spend it on socialising wise. We pay for all clothes, gym, DoE, phone, toiletries etc. Anything he earns from odd jobs he puts into his savings tin which he’ll open and convert into currency when we go on holiday.

DD had the child benefit (or equivalent when it stopped). I paid for her phone, uniform and toiletries, she used her allowance for fun, clothes, presents etc. She took a gap year after A levels and got a full-time job, so the allowance stopped.