Pocket money for 16 year old

[tourdefrance]

I know this has been done loads before but how do you decide how much money to give a 16 year old?

He currently gets £20 / month and saves about 1/3 most months.
I pay for phone, clothes (he has no interest in fashion so basic stuff), shoes, barbers, an occasional magazine and a hobby (climbing).

I was thinking of increasing to £50 but he needs to pay for extra clothes, and his social life (which was non existent 3 months ago but is now trips to town for Costa). And any presents for family.

His GCSEs are now finished so can get a job but he thinks I should give him £100/month.

His social life is probably going to expand. I think £50 a month is ok for socializing but not if you include extra clothes. £50 a month is approx one cinema visit or bowling alley or cheap meal out a week. The cinema is more than that with a drink and snack so £50 a month is manageable for him but not much lee way so he will have to think about how he wants to spend it which is fine. If he wants to go to a gym I would pay for that to ensure exercise. I don't think he could buy clothes and socialize on that amount. A £10 tee shirt would leave him a bit short on outings money that month and it is also possible he might start taking more of an interest in clothes in 6th form. It's good he's a hard worker and he will need down time with his friends while doing A levels. You will probably find it cheaper to give him £50 to socialize with each month rather than be asked for money as opportunities come up. That way he knows that if he goes to A he can't go to B and has to make decisions and learn money management. It can mount up quite considerably with various opportunities now he's getting older.

Reading with interest - this feels like kids get quite a bit more money now than when I last read threads like this. I wonder if it is an age thing - do your 16 year olds get more than your younger teens (or when they were younger teens themselves)?

My kids (16 and 15) get £70 a month from us - we pay for phones, school uniform, sports clubs/trips, kit they need for extra-curriculars (DS costs us a fortune in sports kit), and they buy their clothes and fund their social lives. It's always seemed like enough for them to manage with and budget in their own ways, but I'm wondering if it's going to need increasing soon.

Oldest has a part-time job at the moment and makes £40-£80 a week (top end at the moment as she is covering everyone else taking time off over the exams!). But next year she'll be adding in a 2-hr daily commute to college and has chosen a course which is widely held to be a lot of work, so she thinks she might have to stop the job. In which case, it sounds from this thread like we might need to up her money a bit!

Post 16 there are more opportunities to spend money but also more opportunities to earn money.
Sixth form is a walk away as is our city centre (or a quicker bike ride) so no travel costs really.
I think I will say £50 but I will continue to pay for clothing. He can earn extra by doing chores or locally (lots of opportunities). He has plenty of time to do that over the next few weeks.

If he suddenly starts showing an interest in fashion, will have to reassess.

My DD boyfriends family are minted but they make him work at the weekends because he has expensive taste in clothes which they refuse to indulge so he has to work for it.

My DD has overspent a few times by like £5 and the bank have stopped her card, sent her an overdraft letter and she just has to wait the few days they give her till her next months pocket money goes in and they clear it.

This has been an excellent way for her to manage her money

Don’t do more than you can afford - he can get a job.

But the key thing is that he has to contribute to the household by doing some chores and clearing up after himself. Not that this should be dependant on getting an allowance, but it’s a good moment to remind about it.

The amount will be determined by what you want them to spend it on.

DD at 16 had £40 a week and it had to cover her phone, socialising (which was normally of the go to McDonalds or buy a drink from Poundland variety, there might be one more expensive outing a month), buying presents plus any extra clothes she wanted (we bought more than enough clothes, this really was for extras). If you wanted them to pay for everything or things like travel fares, school meals etc, I'd suggest you'd provide more.

However post GCSEs DD (and virtually everyone she knew) went out and got a part time job, so the money stays in place (as I'd like her to have the option of giving up the job if she wants to concentrate on studying) but there was no need for the amount to rise to cover her increased expenditure.

I can afford it so not a problem there. Hoping his other friends get a job and he sees it as the normal thing to do.
I would pay for the gym if he was interested, but he’s not.

He has been doing some chores since about age 10. Not explicitly linked to pocket money, just expected to be done at the latest before screens on a Sunday afternoon.