Pocket money

[Birchtree1]

Hi,
Wasn't sure where to post.
My older chi.d starts secondary school in the autumn.
He has never had 'proper' pocket money.
I was going to start giving him some weekly pocket money.
How much is okay or to much?
I thought maybe £5 a week? But to me that seems an awful lot really! I am by no means rich or well off.
Also I am worried he'd just buy sweets and drinks I don't approve off!
Also would you just give the money or actually open an account and get them a debit card, they then can manage themselves and also can put money into a savings account if they don't spend all?
There is a free one available at Lloyds for example.
I have explained to him that spending money with a card sometimes doesn't seem like 'real' spending.

My 6yo gets £2 a week. She’s pretty good at saving up for stuff which surprised me, she has her own bank account and I update her with how much is in it, then she’ll usually use it to buy a few sets of Pokemon cards or a plushie every so often. She saved for two months for one of them! £5 seems a good start if he hasn’t had it before.

I must be overly generous because I've given DD £100pm from y8. She's going into y10 now. It's the child benefit and I have to get used to not having that money soon just as much as she has to get used to budgeting. Benefits like that don't last forever.

That is super generous. We put cb in child trust fund every month from birth to save for university. We give 10pds a week pocket money but probably pay for more things directly and dd gets quite a lot of birthday and Christmas money from relatives.

Well yes, but surely you know this considering the COL has been going on for years?

COL impacts people differently. Not everyone needs Child Benefit to cover day to day costs. I was always the child with no money on days out with friends and vowed that my children wouldn't be that child.

I also save 100 pounds a month for each child....since they were born....

So as I said, you must know that you're 'overly generous' as you put it?

...but they don't know this...it's for a car/ uni/ learning how to drive...whatever....

My DS just finished Year 7 and I keep him topped up so he always has £5 but max £5/week. Most weeks he'll spend £3-5 at the local chicken shop. I alternate between Revolut or cash. Most local shops prefer cash.

All 3 DDs 7 to 13 get £2/week and earn extra for chores, they can earn upto an extra £6/week.

I think it’s ott to police a high school child on spending their pocket money on sweets, if this is the first time having their own money they are going to want to spend it on what they want, especially as they get more freedom and want to fit in with new friends. Plus it’s either their money or not! In today’s money £5 won’t get them much in the way of sweets anyway.

All 3 have GoHenry accounts they manage themselves, have had them since 6yo, oldest 13 has her card and our bank card linked to her phone. DH also added his McDonald’s rewards to her phone, she goes once a month after school with friends and uses his rewards rather than make her pay herself. She uses public transport which is unreliable so can use our bank card if she needs, public transport is also paid with from our card. We will be making sure our 11yo has the same options when she starts highschool.

All 3 are good at saving a portion of their money, they regularly set savings goals for themselves, my 7yo has just bought herself a gaming chair with her own money, she hadn’t been spending her pocket money and that mixed with left over Christmas money she decided to get herself a chair because DH and I said we weren’t buying her one. There was obviously a novelty of having their own money at first, spending because they could, but that wore off quickly.

Id definitely recommend incentive pocket money and give him freedom to enjoy him self before encouraging him to think about saving and what he spends him money on. We never pushed our DDs but after a while if they asked for something we’d say we can’t buy it but you can save your pocket money to buy it, eventually they just started to do it.

A while ago I started pocket money for my four grandchildren, at the time 10,11,13 and 15. Opened accounts and monthly paid. The main idea was that they didn't have to ask or persuade parents, they could do well or make mistakes but when it was gone it was gone

One granddaughter used it to take her mum out for tea and cake monthly. Other granddaughter bought keep fit equipment. Youngest boy didn't spend a penny for ages as he was saving for a huge Lego, I was delighted when he broke that self imposed rule and started buying stuff when out with his friends. Oldest grandson ... granny, could i have it in the middle of the month, that's when I'm broke!

I'm stingy, my kids get double their age x10p per week so my 11yo gets £2.20 but I still pay for all her basics so it's actually intended for the sweets and trinkets she wants on holiday etc. she also saves for bigger things.

I have an instant savings account under my main account and transfer money in and out when I pay for things for her and I'll give her cash if she wants it. Add birthday money to it.

She'll have her own account when she's 12.

mine get £20 a month on their card then if they are going out £20 unless they are going to get some clothes and bits then I'll give them £50 but can add to their card when they are out if needed.

When ds was that age I think he got £10 from us and £5 per week from my mum and dad. It increased with age from us and from mum and dad. Also paid all his clubs and for clothes, toiletries, phone and guitar lessons. We also paid into Parent pay each month for lunches and paid bus fare. I don't thinks children can be expected to pay for their school lunches and food and for the fare to school. Pocket money was fun money for treats and trips out with friends. If you can start at £10 Op it will be better as he will need more than £5 to socialise with friends.