Talk to Roosterbank.com about pocket money - great prizes to be won

[TheOtherHelenMumsnet]

The online pocket money site Roosterbank.com just released their first Pocket Money Index and they want to know what you think about all things pocket money.

Here's what they say about it: "The PMI is a fun glimpse into the habits of young pocket money earners on Roosterbank.com with some surprising results. Families give pocket money differently and ultimately it's up to you as to how you approach it. Roosterbank.com can help provide some structure along the way."

Please do take a look at the index and post what you think about it on this thread. If you give pocket money on a regular basis, Roosterbank.com would also like to know:

~ Do your DCs have to do anything to earn their pocket money? e.g. chores, completing a reward chart etc. If not, why not?

~ Are your DCs on par with the Index, above or below?

Every Mumsnetter who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a first prize of a £150 Amazon Voucher and four runners up will win £20 vouchers each.

Roosterbank.com also have an exclusive offer for Mumsnetters - please do take a look at how it works and sign up here.

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!
MNHQ

My little one is not yet old enough to have pocket money. I do put change into her money box each week, and savings into her bank monthly. Every so often I then take the contents of her money box and add it to her savings. However, I've looked at the site and hope it will still be going once she is at the age to receive pocket money. It's a great site to help gauge how much to give. I know we each have to take into account our own circumstances and feelings towards it, but I have friends who have asked on Facebook for the "going rate for a tooth" etc. I may have to point them at this site.

DD isn't old enough to have pocket money but DSS does get regular pocket money. He has to help out around the house and keep his room tidy to earn it.

It's all "virtual" money though as at the moment all we're doing is adding it to a spreadsheet that DP maintains. DSS knows that he can access it to see what his balance is at any time and if he wants to make a purchase, we make it out of family money and remove the balance from his spreadsheet.

We have looked into opening him a bank account too and will be going to get him his account very soon. It's the Co-op one that allows them to withdraw money and are effectively "in control" with a little bit of guidance from us (he can withdraw up to £10 a day or we can request transfer to our account for him).

I really wouldn't use a site like that mentioned above - surely its better to use a bank account where the money actually is?

That looks like a great little site! I do like that you can see the going rate for things :)

My 6 year old is well under the average though, he gets 50p a week! The others are too young. We start pocket money at 5.

I loved the most popular brand, very true in this house! Ds saves his money and spends it on Lego. He doesn't have to do anything to get it really, though there are household chores the children are all expected to pitch in with anyway. He has had it docked in the past for being aggressive towards his sister.

Sometimes he gets a bit of extra money from grandparents that he adds to his savings. Recently he had around £10 saved up and some Lego sets were on offer in Sainsbury's so he spent it all. When he first started getting pocket money he just wanted to buy sweets then he realised how many weeks he had to save it for it to add up to buy a Lego minifigure and his saving habit snowballed . He is also expected to use his own pocket money for school cake sales and stuff.

A few weeks ago he broke a Lego baseplate bending it in half to try to remove some flat bits he had stuck to it so we have agreed with him that when he has saved enough to replace it then he will pay for a new one but we will buy him the little brick separation tool so he doesn't resort to bending again!

Okay, the PMI is adorable!!!

My son does not yet get pocket money, we will start when he is four in two months, probably with 50p a week. He will not have to do any chores to earn his money, he does chores because that's what families do to help each other. Have not yet decided if he can lose money for not doing chores.

So I guess he's below the index, as it says the average is £1.62 for four year olds. I think that's a lot of money at that age! It's not like he has to actually buy anything with it that keeps him alive or clothed.

~ Do your DCs have to do anything to earn their pocket money? e.g. chores, completing a reward chart etc. If not, why not?

No, I believe that DS should do his fair share of chores around the house, according to his abilities. It's not related to pocket money and I don't give pocket money as a reward either.

~ Are your DCs on par with the Index, above or below?

He's 5 and gets £1 a week so he's below the index.

Roosterbank looks interesting but I'm not really sure how it works! Will have to poke around...

My children are 11, 13 & 15 but still receive pocket money. I don't count birthday money as pocket money as it is a specific gift and not something which is given regularly. I don't see the need for Rooster Bank, they can remember how much something costs and by adding up how much money they have manually they are learning how to use coins etc. The way the program tells them how much more they need to save stops them from seeing the value in maths so I see no benefit in that part of the package. I also think giving the children badges depending on how much they have saved silly - if a grandparent gives a child £100 for Christmas they are considered to be better savers whereas they simply have cash rich grandparents.

My children also receive less money than the averages shown, but that has always been the case.

The point, EastPoint is that it's FUN!!!!!

You know fun?

I think the website looks great and will be pointing DD (12) in its direction, as she's fairly useless with money (like me) and I'd like her to save, rather than spend.

She doesn't have 'regular' pocket money, but this week, so far, she's had £5 from me for an after school outing and probably gets about the same each week, sometimes more, sometimes less. It's not 'tied' to chores, but I do expect her to help out and offer her the chance to earn money by helping out more (i.e. doing additional chores that aren't expected). Overall, though, I'd say she's on a par with, or higher, than, the index.

I also like the website and my 2 DCs do get pocket money every Friday. It is way below the index. DS is 10 and DD is 8 and they have £2 each.

To be honest it just goes straight into their piggy-bank and DD will spend hers if there is a new toy that she wants but DS saves his for weeks and weeks and might get a new game when he has saved enough.

My DCs also do chores to but they are not related to Pocket Money. They have always done chores to help the family/house rather than for ££££. They will always set/clear the table for dinner, wash/dry up. The hamster is usually cleaned out by myself and DD.

~ Do your DCs have to do anything to earn their pocket money? e.g. chores, completing a reward chart etc. If not, why not?
DD is the only one out of the four children who gets regular pocket money. She is supposed to bring her Ipod and phone down on time each night to get her pocket money. She can empty the dishwasher to earn extra, but other things she is expected to do for nothing. I didn't agree with doing chores for money but when DD was saving up for something she felt it was unfair that she had no way of earning extra money to boost her savings so we agreed on the emptying dishwasher.

~ Are your DCs on par with the Index, above or below?
Below on paper, DD gets £20 a month but if you include £10 a month phone top up and the all the extras she gets then way above.
My 3 boys are 8,2 and 1 they don't get any pocket money. I do buy my 8 year old comics or lego minifigs every couple of weeks. I also let him keep the change when he goes to the shop for me if it's less than £2.
We save £15 a month for all the DC and they usually get around £50 Birthday and Christmas money which goes into their savings too.

I do not give regular pocket money.

I give irregular pocket money when it is a cake sale, or we are going shopping.

I have found it very frustrating opening a saving account for my children. When I was 7 I had a post office account where I put birthday and Christmas money and it worked really well. They don't exist any more, and while some banks offer accounts for 8 year olds, they mostly do not have passbooks, but rely on children keeping receipts for transactions and receiving a statement in the post, which I think is not appropriate for young children. Passbooks are much more convenient. I ended up opening them a buildling society account, but they have difficulty accessing it because there is only one branch in the city centre, not like post office which would have been ideal.

They do their chores regardless of money. The 2 are not related.

My DC don't have to do anything for their pocket money but they are WAY below the index, so I guess if they wanted/needed more money we would engineer a way for them to earn it.

DS (10) did 3 days really hard work being a builder's labourer for DH in the summer (our house, not hiring him out) and we paid him £50. Thing is, we gave it to him as a £50 note - so anything he thinks about buying has to pass the "is it worth parting with my £50 note for?" - so far, nothing has . I don't personally think that virtual /online money would have the same 'stop and think' effect that handing over the carefully hoarded contents of your money box does.

DD(17) now has a part time job and gets her contract mobile bill paid by me and the occasional bung when I can afford it.
DS(15) gets £5 a week dependant on chores and good behaviour ...and if i can afford it
DS2(13) gets the same.

This is just below the index because I am a working single parent with no maintenance and rubbish wages.

What a lovely site! Having trouble signing up as a parent though, says my email address isn't a valid one? Anyway really like the concept. My own DC are still too young to appreciate the value of money but I think this is perfect for my 5 year old niece. She doesn't get regular pocket money but does get tooth fairy money, odd bits here and there as pressies etc

My DS doesn't get pocket money - all household tasks are done on the basis that they are part of living in a home, not something to be 'paid for'.

He has never received money for teeth as I disagree with notions like the tooth fairy and Santa.

He receives money from relatives for birthday/holidays if he specifies that's what he would prefer.

He works two p/t jobs for the rest of his money and has done since he was 10. He has his own bank account and debit card and budgets his spending.

I pay for his mobile PAYG top ups, he pays for all games/DVDs etc from his own money. He is currently saving for a new pc.

Haha! I'm not letting DS1 see that - he's 9 and only gets £2 per week.

He spends most of it on Lego. There's only so much Lego we can fit in the house.

He gets his £2 regardless, unless he's damaged something wilfully and been fined for it. I do occasionally give him the opportunity to earn extra in the school holidays, though.

DD16 gets £10 a week; DS 12 gets £5 a week. Money is paid directly into their bank accounts every Friday. They both have bank cards and do internet banking so that they can manage their own money and pay for things which they want to buy online and they also learn to budget. They are both above the index and this rings true with what ds said after his pshe lesson on pocket money this week where he discovered that about half his class don't get pocket money.

They both do chores at home but this is not linked to getting pocket money - they are expected to help as they are part of this family.

I really like the look of that site, and I think it's the sort of thing DH would be very enthusiastic about too. It looks like good fun and a nice way to show some practical aspects of maths.

DD is 5 and doesn't get pocket money yet, I think we'll probably start when she starts school (not in the UK and they start at age 6 here). I think we will probably give her 1 or 2 euros a week, which looks like it would be slightly below average.

I wouldn't make it dependent on chores, I don't think.

DD is 3 and so has only just started getting pocket money. At the moment, the pocket money is really just to get her used to recognising and handling money...(as well as cheap cheap labour!)

So, for example, if she dusts the radiators she'll get 10 pence. If she tidies away her shoes she gets 5 pence and if she puts her clothes in the washing basket she gets 20 pence...

I'm dreading when she starts inflating her price list

At the moment DD is waaay below the index... but when she is older I hope to be quite generous with it as it's a great way for kids to learn about financial responsibilities and to be able to choose something for themselves.

I was going to say we don't give pocket money, but if birthday money counts, both kids are way over average - they are about to have 2nd and 4th birthdays, and DH's family come from a country where you get given money at birthdays (if you get anything), and at other celebrations. So, the kids don't get a present from half the family - they get Cash. We tend to let them choose something (well, DS1 specifies a program he wan't something for, DS2 gets what we think!)

The site has too much on the linked page, tho it does look useful. I wouldn't pay for chores like tidying bedrooms - thats something that should just be done in a household where everyone pulls their weight. Cleaning the car, cutting the grass, something that isn't essential, might get money when they are big enough to do things like that.

My dd is 14 and she has to do chores to earn pocket money.

At the minute she loads and unloads the dishwasher every day and gets £5 a week. I she did more chores she'd get more money, but as she doesn't want to do any more chores I haven't had to work out what that increases would be.

My ds2 is only 3 so too young for pocket money, but when he's older he'll also have to do chores.

My dd is 12, she gets £2 per week but I buy all her clothes, magazines etc. I only expect her to keep her room tidy and feed/clean her pets. However she can earn more by doing extra chores like hoovering, washing the car, dusting etc but never does!