Allowances for teens

[Chairmum]

My 14 yr old DD has requested she receive an allowance instead of pocket money. Does anyone else do this and if so, how do you work out what is a reasonable amount? When I tot up roughly how much we spend on her with regard to clothes, shoes etc, it breaks down into a rather alarming weekly/monthly amount. Is it best to just give her enough for entertainment/bus fares/birthday gifts or should it include school dinner money and so on?

Missed the bit about uni.

My parents / grandparents used to give me money for xmas & birthdays (alongside smaller gifts) which were saved up for uni or whatever I chose to do at the time. I put some other money from summer jobs in with this as well.

I then paid for my fees, accomodation, living expenses out of this money & the student loan. I didn't work while at uni (other than in the summers) as my parents encouraged me not to.

In some ways it was good to be totally responsible for all of my expenses while at uni & I never had to ask for handouts (although I was sometimes given small food parcels to take back with me).

mumeeee, I am lucky enough to be able to afford to support 3 children at university (just about...) and they are lucky enough to have a parent who doesn't want them to have student loan debt (I never had it of course etc although there are equally good arguments that children appreciate what they have to work for and pay for so entirely up to parents what stance they take and can afford). So in return for them not taking out student loans I pay £100 a week plus hall fees/rent plus tuition fee. That's still less than their school fees were so I didn't feel it as a huge financial hit suddenly which is not the case for most parents. I'm not sure I'm the best typical example to use.

Some people say get the loan anyway and invest it but you still owe it and what interest int he BS do you get on those small sums anyway at 3% or whatever? Not worth the hassle and then having it hanging over you (unless you need to to eat of course).

Their friends vary. They seem to have much much richer friends sadly so I don't appear generous at all but that's their choice and I know I am..

I don't think it matters where the money comes from (whether it be parents or student loan) - if it's paid in pre-agreed instalments then a budget is still needed whatever the source is. I think it's different if the child knows they can get handouts whenever they have spent too much on excessively expensive items.

Which is a good bank account for them with a cash card facility?My ds has a nationwide savings account with a book which he doesn't touch so I need to open one for his monthly money which starts at 15 per month and dwindles according to how cheeky he is He is 12 btw and used to also get 10 on his phone which he lost last week and so now that saves me that tenner

Xenia thats great if you can do that unfortunatly we can't aford to suport my daughter completly so she needed to to take out a student loan. Blondilocks I agree with you that it doesn't actually matter where the money comes from I just think that they need to learn to budget and not to relie on parents for handouts.
Nody holder my 16 year old has the same acount as you son but she has a cashcard instead of a book I think once they are over 12 you can opt for this option. My daughter has this acount since she was 14 and the 14 year old will be opening one this month. The account is for up to 18 year olds.

DS1 13.6 yrs gets £25 per month. He pays for all of his own stuff. He's free on the bus to school

DD1 11.11 yrs is on £10 per month but will get £20 from October (her birthday) as above but I'll pay her travel as she has to get the train.

From 13 it goes up £5 per birthday.

They help out at home as standard... but I can see the value in getting them to do extra jobs for extra cash. Must give that more thought.

i tell mine to get a job.

my son and his friend have started a car wash business and produced flyers.
he and twin sister have been an put their names down at every paper shop - if one gets a paperround they will share workload and money.

otherwise than that

my lad wanted a fiver for a xbox game. he has been doing loads of washessince saturday.

Mumeeee - as far as students are concerned, they do need to learn to budget but they have problems having to pay tuition fees (existing students - new ones will be able to defer their higher fees) and rent at or before beginning of term before the student loan arrives. It is so strange that children have to go from earning £20-30 per week in a weekend job to owing thousands as soon as they start university.

My eldest son is about to start his second year at uni. He earns all of his "going out" money during his Xmas, Easter and Summer hols. We got him to work out what he would need for bus fares, meals etc and this comes out of his loan, as does his rent. We have paid his tuition fees and have set up an ISA for him, as we are trying to minimise his debt after 5 years at uni (he's studying Medicine) We also have 2 other sons (15 & 13) and want to be fair to all. The younger 2 have paper rounds, look after neighbours pets in the holidays, babysit etc for spends. We buy school clothes and "basic" clothes and they add on if they want more expensive items.

I had a monthly allowance fairly early on that went up each year, by 18 when I was in 6th form (only 4 years ago!) it was £50 a month and I did some babysitting but wasn't pressured to get a job because I also volunteered at the RSCPA and was a Guider in 2 different units. The allowance covered everything other than food etc at home, I bought my own academic stuff too, pens, paper etc but I managed to save loads and mostly financed my Gap year from savings as well as factory work in the summer.

My sister on the other hand didn't do anything like that and didn't get a job and complained when she had spent all her money! So it doesn't always work as a way of teaching budgeting!

At uni, since thats been brought up we only got minimum loan (£3000) from the government and had to pay fees. Parents paid our fees and we paid rent from the loan, although it only just covers rent if you are lucky. Then we got and extra £150 a month from parents to cover food, bills, textbooks and everything else! It sort of works, and I have always worked during the holidays to pay off the overdraft for the start of term.

Now of course its a whole different kettle of fish but I certainly think that responsibility for your own money and having an allowance early on (even at a very young age we had 10p a week for tuck shop, when we spent it was our choice)helps to instill a certain regard for money and knowledge of the value of things, learning to buy what you need not just what you want, as long as its not too much. A friend of mine at school used to get at least twice what I did and always owed her mum money.

Hi there, very interesting reading this thread, we are living in Spain and have been since ds1 14 was 9 he receives 10 euros per week as standard this can be reduced re behaviour, attitude he has a few chores to do, wiping dishes each night, setting the table, he also earns 20 euros per week cleaning 4 swimming pools, we run a smll villa maintenance company. The amazing thing is he feels he is really hard done by with a total lack off money, we buy all clothes, toiletries, shoes, school stuff, we dont have any friends here with kids the same age. Like I said great reading to know we are not hideous scrooges!!

All my children get weekly pocket money which they are encouraged to save some of.If they are in the infants they get 2.50 per week In the juniors they get £5 per week year 7 8 and 9 they get 7.50 a week years 10 and 11 £ 10 a week lower 6th they get 15 a week and upper sixth 20 a week. they have to pay for all xmas presents for family and friends and birthday presents themselves. We have a weeks holiday each year and I like them to save their own spends for that. If they want to join clubs I pay for the first one only they buy their own clothes other than uniforms with the exception of the little ones and pay for their own magazine subscriptions etc. We have a cleaning rota as their are 6 children and they all do chores every day apart from sundays. The elsest two also have part time jobs My eldest saved up to go to thailand for a month last year and this year and has a car which we bought second hand but she maintains. It works really well and saves on the can I have can I go if they have run out of money the answer is no.

im 18, so i earn my own money now but i always remember me and my friends getting between £10 and £20 a week. depending on what we did each week depended on whether there was plenty to spare or just enough. for example if i went to thec inema that week i used to find a lot of it eaten up.

is it wise to give huge amounts and credit cards to teenagers. my neighbour is a psychologist specialising in addiction problems among teens and says the majority are spoilt with too much cash available to them.