How much money each week

[doodledo92]

Hi could I please ask how much money you give your 16 year old who's in full time education each week?
I don't mean for clothes and college/school things I mean to go out with mates etc.

My son is at college full times he's just left school. He doesn't have a part time job he's applied for loads but not getting anywhere. I still revive child benefit for him plus child tax credit and maintenance each month off his dad. I'm just wanting to know what a reasonable amount would be to give him each week.
Thanks

16 year old son gets 50 /month
I pay for all clothes,phone,contact lenses ,toiletries
I will put it up when there is somewhere to go
Drop in the ocean compared to the £1100 for DD at Uni 😄

Not sure if being in different parts of the country will affect this but my teenage children are expensive .

It seems life is very expensive for them with food, socialising and especially clothes.

Goodness I feel totally out of touch. I never gave regular money to ds's. Just slipped Ds1 £20 when he occasionally met mates at Nando's.

My head’s bursting with the whole how much to pay them. I put money in ds cars then he asks for money for this, money for that, money for the online games... i need to stick to an amount and leave it at that

@Rosebud2005 he won't learn how to budget if you just pay for everything, he probably has no idea how much it adds up to, this could become and issue when he is older.

I don’t actually pay for everything, just school and allowance but he asks for other money for things which I release from his savings account which he doesn’t realise is going down. Once it’s fine it’s gone but he just doesn’t get it. He seems to think we will pay him for things to buy etc. That is what I’m trying to teach him, not to squander it all and budget

@Rosebud2005

I don’t actually pay for everything, just school and allowance but he asks for other money for things which I release from his savings account which he doesn’t realise is going down. Once it’s fine it’s gone but he just doesn’t get it. He seems to think we will pay him for things to buy etc. That is what I’m trying to teach him, not to squander it all and budget

You are teaching him precisely nothing by giving him his own money but not telling him. 'Once it's gone it's gone' some lesson

What would you suggest? I do tell him

@Rosebud2005

What would you suggest? I do tell him

Are you serious?

My 16-year-old gets £8 baseline in his account weekly that's for him. He has a debit account and a goodbudget app that we use to discuss his spending.

We also pay for his monthly phone contract and he gets a separate amount for clothes & similar when we do a quarterly review which most often lately involves him looking around at stuff online, saving it for when we're clothes shopping and then picking out what fits the budget.

He gets separate money for when he buys things for the household and will hopefully soon be getting transport money (we're currently in easy walking distance for college, but we're hoping to move to a more accessible place in the next year which will inevitably be farther away).

@Rosebud2005 yes of course !

I put £20 a month in DS’s account for him (he is 15).

However, he also has phone contact, Spotify, sports club paid directly by me. I put money in his dinner account each month and he has learnt how to manage this, so he doesn’t run out.

He earns between £40 and £80 each weekend from his part time job and he uses this to pay for stuff like PlayStation games/controllers, football kits and boots. He pretty much saves every penny he earns and just buys the odd McDonalds.

He has so much money in his account as he is an avid saver, but he is a bit of a tight wad and doesn’t like to spend money. Apart from football kits, he has zero interest in clothes. I just buy him what he needs.

None. We paid for phone contract. Mine had part time jobs, though, which are maybe harder to come by now.

80€ per month - we pay her phone contract and will pay her travel annual pass from September, but she pays for everything "non essential".

She turned down a 50€ per month once per week newspaper round (she applied last year but was offered it a full year after applying) and says she doesn't need more money... She also applied for both a pretty well paid apprenticeship for next year and a full time college place, was offered both but chose the college place.

She buys her own clothes though we buy sports kit for organised club sports when running. We pay for everything required for education obviously.

The 17 year old gets a base of £50 which gets topped up as needed (if he has additional transport costs) or which he does odd jobs to supplement. Usually he needs an additional £30-40 a month for food (rows and on weekends he is ravenous after morning practice). He pays for his phone from this and we cover everything else.

He has a pre-paid card like a Go Henry/Osper which I prefer for him. He does have a savings account which is separate. I prefer to go this route for several reasons:

• instant spending notifications to me

-limited range of where he can spend it (no dodgy off-licences so no purchasing alcohol)

• I can instantly freeze/unfreeze the card (if needed) from my phone

-i can top up instantaneously from my phone if there was an emergency -his card does several currencies which is handy for him as he does camps on continental Europe and we spend summers in the US.

• To me, the convenience is well worth the small expense.

I thought this too with his gohenry card but just to release school money I find I’m increasing the spend limit. What spend limit do you put on it?

I don’t have a spending limit for him. When he had a Go Henry and was younger, I think I initially put £30 per transaction (age 11) and increased it as he got older. His current card has no limits as his balance is the limit and he never exceeded his spending limits on his previous card (only uses the money to eat or pay for X Box live).

@Mominatrix

You get alerts and limit your 17 year old's spending?

Is there a reason you don't trust them?

My 16 yo gets £20 a week in her bank account and I pay her phone contract and buy basic clothes and toiletries. If she wants label type stuff she has to save up for jt. It usually covers her for a trip to the cinema or pizza or sushi out.

She was meant to start a part time job in the summer but Covid killed that. She is actually quite good at saving and during lockdown got her self an Apple Watch.

She has annual transport card on top of that too, but where I live it's very cheap for under 18s.

@EverythingsComingUpRoses and @papaelf - I have a 13 yr old DD with a go Henry and personally, i want to encourage saving and love the flexibility - but knowing, that although she shows everyone indication of being mature and sensible, she is still a child and should not have adult level fuck ups available to her.

Starters for ten, being able to buy a train ticket to a big city without our knowledge, having unknown amounts of money deposited in her account, countless scams via WhatsApp,

Setting sensible limits and being able to monitor what's going on gives me significant peace of mind, just in case things go sideways while she's young.

I'll look to move to a current account if either prompted by her or when she's managing bills of her own - while I'm supporting her I think I'm still responsible for her ongoing financial education.

Mine get £5 a week, if they want more they have to do chores. I pay for clothes, hair, phones etc.

@Timeforabiscuit

Big difference between a 13 year old and a 17 year old

@EverythingsComingUpRoses, I think you might have a problem with reading comprehension - I said I do not have spending limits on him but did when he was 11.

In terms of spending notifications - they are a part of the card and I really don’t pay much attention to them except as a notification that he finished practice and I might be called to pick him up. They were more of an observational tool when he was younger. It is because of the earlier notifications that I know he is trustworthy. As I said in my original message, the most important features for these cards for an older teen, particularly one who travels abroad routinely, in the ability to load money instantaneously and in multiple currencies without high exchange fees.

Any other questions?

Dd is 17 she gets £100 each month. I pay for her phone, toiletries and clothes. She tends to save most of it only spending when there is something special, outside of birthday and Christmas, that she wants. She earns herself money by selling her crafts which keeps her in materials and gives her a little profit.