Tell RoosterMoney your thoughts about pocket money - £250 voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

Following the release of their latest Pocket Money Index, RoosterMoney would like to know your thoughts surrounding pocket money. RoosterMoney is a pocket money app that’s designed to help parents take kids from their first steps in understanding the value of money to their first bank account.

Here’s what RoosterMoney have to say: “The Pocket Money Index is a fun glimpse into the habits of young pocket money earners in the UK. Every Family gives pocket money differently and ultimately it's up to you as to how you approach it. As the world of money becomes more digital it can be harder to teach kids about money, so RoosterMoney aims to provide some structure along the way."

So, take a look at the Pocket Money Index and post your thoughts on it below. Also, if you’re a regular pocket money giver, RoosterMoney would like to know if your children are on par with the index, and what your children do to earn their pocket money – do they complete chores, have a reward chart, or maybe they get it on a regular basis without strings attached?

All those who post below on the thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £250 Amazon voucher.

Thanks, and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ

Mine don't get it at the moment, they are two and four. We are going to start in the new year and they can do as they wish with it, spend or save. It's such a great learning tool, so many children have no coin recognition at all.

My DS started getting pocket money on his 6th birthday and gets £2 per week. So far (a few months in) he hasn't spent any of it, instead choosing to save it all. He is a big fan of delayed gratification! I don't know if we will give him extra money for chores in the future - still to be decided. He'll get money from the tooth fairy but hasn't lost a tooth yet! I think the going rate here is £1 per tooth.

Oh dear mine get less than the PMI says is average for their age. I do occasionally pay out extras in a lump sum though - paid DD for not watching tv for two whole weeks in the summer holidays for example! I do need to get into the habit of offering cash for household chores too...

I like the visual aspect of the site.

My dd doesn't get regular pocket money at 7. We went through a phase of giving her 10p for good activities she had done like tidying away toys but that has waned now.
She gets everything she needs bought for her. Maybe when she starts secondary school we will start giving her a monthly sum for small expenses

DD doesn't yet get pocket money. I do think it is important though. I was terrible with money as a child whilst my sister saved. Seeing her able to buy things I wanted but couldn't afford because I'd frittered my money away on rubbish made me learn to manage my money at a young age when my unwise spending didn't matter!

Regular chores earn screen (tv/iPad/wii) time in our house, pocket money is for extra ordinarily helpfulness and depends on the task (washing my car £5, picking up pine cones from driveway 2p per cone - he made about £4.50 last wkend before he got bored) We encourage it to be saved for things that he really wants, this goes in the piggy bank along with tooth fairy money and treat money from granny. He can spend this how he wants but he quickly realised that it doesn't always go as far as he'd like esp when spent on football magazines.
Birthday money goes straight into his savings account, both kids have had one since birth, this can be spent but via mummy & daddy and tends to go towards larger items - fancy football boots was the last thing he got.

I give my kids pocket money and teach them to save the money

I currently give my kids money as a reward for goals at football, clean sheets if playing in defence, that type of thing. I refuse to pay them for chores, they should be doing those anyway. I don't give any other form of pocket money to them. They are 11, 12 and 5. But I think I will start to give 2 pounds a week and maybe start a reward chart for my fussy eater

I give my dd a monthly allowance and a bank account to help her learn the skills she needs for the future in a a manageable way. It's working that has really taught her the value of money as she know thinks about how many hours work something costs before she buys it.
Pocket money is important for independence as its for spending on stuff your parents wouldn't choose to buy!!

We don't give pocket money as a routine. We usually give them a bit of a school holidays allowance (less than on the index) so they can make some independent choices. When they have things they want we encourage them to look at what they have and no longer need to trade in. Mine are 12, 10 and 5.

I help them sell their items on ebay and it's a really good lesson in how much things depreciate once out the packet.

My youngest (5) had £2 last weekend. Earned because it was a special family day out and she won our best acorn competition. She made the very big decision, after a good long look in the national trust shop, to save her £2 and go to the charity shop where she got 5 teddies for 99p and gave her brother £1 to buy match attacks and she in return got to pick from his current swaps.

They very very rarely have been able to say can I have and just got because our finances aren't stacked that way. When they really want something we get together and try to work out a way of them getting it. Invariably if they want it enough and are patient enough, we manage to find a way by a mixture of saving some treat money, selling surplus and doing jobs.

Interesting to know the average. I don't think pocket money should be tied to chores, children should help out regardless and get pocket money as a treat. Not sure 4 year olds need to treat themselves though!

my kids dont get pocket money but after this might consider it

Just started giving pocket money this summer. Way below the average at 25p per week for 4yo. I did actually ask about rates on MN before deciding :) Got advice about being in line with what they could buy, and the only place DD goes that she has to spend money has sweets costing 10p-75p plus rides at 20p. So I figured £2 would just end up with 20 bags of a sweets a week! So far it appears to be working. She's grasping the idea of saving up to get a more expensive sweet across weeks, or a few rides. I don't intend to tie it to anything, as I don't want the 'well, don't give my pocket money' argument if she doesn't do the household stuff (as I've heard some preteens start tod o). I expect household chores are part of being the family, and it's not something you can decide to forgo something else to 'get out of'.

The app looks very interesting indeed. It may be very useful for her to keep track of what she's got.

I give my 9 year old £3 per week pocket money and my 6 year old £2 and they earn extra for chores like helping in the kitchen, garden etc. I also reward them with book tokens and gift cards for good school reports, test results etc. I think it's important for children to see how money can be earned.

Dd 15 gets £30 pocket money a month plus £10 phone top up. She's started going out more with friends bowling or for coffee, so it mostly goes on that. She has a bank account but prefers cash. I dont give extra for chores, for good exam results so far I usually take her out for a meal or we order pizza in, but I may reward for good gcse results.

The app looks very interesting. Not sure it's relevant now, maybe more when she was younger?

My DC's don't get pocket money as such but dc1 (9) helps me with chores and I pay her a little for each once. She saves it away in her money box so is learning that if she wants something, how much she would have to do to earn it.
DC2 (7) on the other hand isn't interested in money in the least and has no clue of it's value.

My little one is 3 which I think is a little small for pocket money. When she is given money, I save it for her in the bank. I do think it is a good idea to give pocket money though and will be doing that when she is a little older.

I pay my children's pocket money straight into their banks. So it's not really pocket money I suppose . They're not spenders, definitely savers.

They get a couple of pounds from their nan to spend on sweets or whatever on a Friday.

Mine get between £2-£5 a week. Ages 8/11. One spends it as soon as they get it, the other is a saver. Both do chores.. Washing up, bedroom tidy, hoovering up etc.
We use a chore chart and tick off what they have or haven't done.

My oldest child is only 6 so we haven't got around to pocket money yet. My children are 6, 4 and 1 and they do get a treat once a week (usually a small toy, magazine or some sweets).

We're really looking to the idea of pocket money for the 6yo and I'd like to tie it into helping more around the house. I think he's old enough now to understand that he does need to make a contribution towards keeping a happy home for us all and I think pocket money could be a good incentive for this.

My dd (8) has been getting pocket money since she was 4. It stopped all the nagging when we were out shopping and she rapidly realised that the ultra desirable tat on the front of magazines wasn't worth it.

I read around a bit before working out what to give her and settled on 50p for each year of her age. We agree what she has to do for the money (clearing dishes, doing homework, making her bed). Of the total 10% is put in a pot for her to donate to charity (she chooses the charity), 30% is put in a jar for long term saving and the remaining 60% she can spend exactly how she wants. The long term saving tends to be for something like roller skates or a big lego item. We have a chart with a picture of the item that breaks the cost of the item into £1 chunks so that she can colour a new chunk in everytime she saves another £1 - seeing the progress spurs her on. Quite often she will put her spending money into the savings pot to reach her goal quicker.

As a teenager I was given my child benefit instead of pocket money and I'm planning on doing that for dd too. That will be for everything apart from school clothes.

My DC are 4 & 2 and as yet we haven't introduced pocket money to them. They do each have a money box and any spare change me or DH has is given to them to put in there. They don't spend it so I guess they are saving to some extent (probably without realising it!).
I imagine pocket money will start properly when they are at school and we'd encourage them to do 'chores' in order to 'earn' it.
And teaching them the value of money will be important.

My dd is a bit young at the moment but I think I'll start off by giving her something like a pound a week just for a comic or sweets and go from there.

I have four lovely kids, and we live in a very rich affluent area, unfortunately, we are neither! My husband works very hard in the R.A.F. but we do not have the kind of funds that my childrens friends families have, and our children are starting to realise this. They all want pocket money, they all want to keep up with their friends and have the latest gadgets and go to the cinema every week, but me and my husband cannot afford this, so I guess the bottom line is we don't give pocket money. I won't pay my kids for the chores I expect them to do, but, if I feel their work/behaviour/attitude merits reward, then they will get to have money for what they need if I think they deserve it.
When my son turned 16 he was desperate for designer clothes like his friends, I wished I had the money to give to him, but because we didn't, we told him that if he made half the money by doing jobs for neighbours (he did dog-walking and washed cars) then we would pay the other half for what he wanted.
This has given him a great working ethic, I will always help my kids, but I do want them to know they do not get money for nothing. x

I love the App (wasn't sure I would tbh)
I keep meaning to start giving the DC pocket money but somehow never quite get round to doing it on a regular basis