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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

Monthly Allowance & Bank Account for 14 year old Boy

66 replies

wackyraces · 28/02/2008 16:00

Was thinking of opening a cash card account for my soon to be 14 DS1 for his birthday & pay in a monthly allowance.

Who is the best bank to open an account with?

How much is allowance is reasonable, I was thinking £25 per month as he already earns about £12 a week from paper round & £5 per month from taking my mums dustbin in everyweek.

And what do I say this money is for?

Advice would be very welcome as a dont want to come across as out of touch when telling my son if that makes sense

OP posts:
Youcannotbeserious · 28/02/2008 16:04

My 13YO SD has a NatWest account, with a cash card, specifically for younger teenagers. It's straight forward and seems to be working well....... I am sure all of the main banks offer them.

We give our SD £30 per month, which is purely pocket money. On top of this, she gets her phone paid for and her i-tunes bill paid too...

Original poster
wackyraces · 28/02/2008 16:06

How much do you top up her phone & i-tunes?

OP posts:
Youcannotbeserious · 28/02/2008 16:11

her phone costs £35 per month, and sometimes she spends a bit more, but no more than £45 or there is trouble!!!

i-tunes.... No more than £10 per month, and often a lot less than that.

missingtheaction · 28/02/2008 16:11

mine both had accounts with sainsburys - at that age they will get a cashcard + quite good interest paid on the account but obviously no overdraft facility! if they are getting interest don't forget to register them as non taxpayers or the bank will automatically pay 20% tax for them

get the allowance to cover whatever spending you think is most out of control/unreasonable to you and desirable to them - clothes, pc games, ipod downloads, ringtones etc.

my dd has £55/month at 14, but this includes all clothes except school uniform and underwear (but there is limit on underwear!), social travel, cinema tickets, costs associated with hanging out shopping with girlfriends at weekends, etc etc.

Youcannotbeserious · 28/02/2008 16:14

We're similar.... Our SD has to buy non-essential clothes and pay for friend-related outings (So, if we take her to the cinema, we pay but if she goes with her mates, then she'll pay...)

scaryteacher · 28/02/2008 16:21

My DS gets 20 Euros per month, and has managed to squirrel roughly 100euros in a cash card account. The account limits him to 20 euros cash per week, or 20 euros in the shops.

Sometimes, I spend the sterling equivalent on Amazon or Games Workshop for him if there is something he really wants, and he hocks his pocket money for the next month. I buy clothes and pay for school lunch etc. He wanted some magazines the other day, but not so badly that he was prepared to pay for them!

He also gets an Audible subscription to down load books for his ipod each month.

I still give him the money in cash, rather than by an automatic bank transfer, as then I can withhold it if needs be.

ange8 · 29/02/2008 01:00

for the last three months, our DDs aged 12 and 13 have been getting £10 per week pocket money paid by standing order into their Halifax accounts - they have cash cards so they can withdraw the money, or use the cards like a debit card to pay for things. I expect them to pay for everything they want (phone top-ups, itunes, their weekend shopping trips, cinema visits, gifts for family and friends, fake tan etc) out of this.

On top, they both have an allowance of £60 per month for clothes, including school clothes and shoes.

We set the clothes rate based on the amount I had spent on them over the past year (I am an anorak who uses Microsoft Money to record all our finances).

It has worked really well. Both girls liked the idea, and DD1 has her own budget book so she can decide how she wants to spend her money for the coming month, then track her purchases (oh dear, raised another one like me...)

Better still, I no longer have arguments with them along the lines of "I want you to get these sensible leather school shoes because they will last longer...". Now, if they choose flimsy shoes and insist on playing football in them, they learn the lesson quickly themselves.

They have found a new love for Primark, and bore their grandparents with "Guess how much my entire outfit costs" games.

MarsLady · 29/02/2008 02:27

DS1 (15) gets £35 a month and has to sort his own phone, iTunes, entertainment with it. He has a school uniform and I buy some clothes. Anything extra that he wants he buys. I buy all the school equipment in September and he replaces them as he needs to.

He babysits to supplement his allowance. He has a passbook (not a card, though if he asked he could change it) with Nationwide.

Currently he's saving up for a season ticket to Barnet FC.

I don't do overdrafts so there are no loans. He saves for what he wants. No money.. not item. Works well.

mumblechum · 29/02/2008 10:01

Our ds gets £25 pm from grandma and £5 a week from us. I do give him extra though if he's going to the cinema or something.

Original poster
wackyraces · 29/02/2008 12:56

I think I will give him a higher allowance in & he can buy his own clothes. Which is a good idea. Thank you for sharing that with me.

OP posts:
jammi · 06/03/2008 15:41

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noddyholder · 06/03/2008 15:49

My ds has £30 into his account and £10 on his pay as you go phone.He still hasn't got the hang of it though and always runs out!

hermionegrangerat34 · 06/03/2008 15:54

OMG. Am stunned at the amounts! My dss are 6 and 2 so hasn't come to this yet, but I certainly haven't budgeted for this sort of money at 14. I was thinking more £2 a week unless you want to get a paper round. Am I completely out of touch? i see the clothes thing might work well, but I wouldn't dream of spending these amounts on clothes! Argh - my financial planning is crashing down!

jammi · 06/03/2008 16:04

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jammi · 06/03/2008 16:06

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ska · 06/03/2008 16:14

our 14 nearly 15 y o gets £20 from us and £20 from her mums family paid into an Abbey account. it has a cashcard facility only, no overdraft. she doesn't get anything else from us except occasional 'special' things. her mum buys clothes etc and gives her dinner money. she has to fund her phone and keep it in credit for emergencies. it works ok but often she runs out by about the 15th of the month. she also does leafleting to get extra money.
12 yo gets £10 a month if he's good the previous month. he never spends ny money except on war games figures...he has got a phone but hasnt used up his first ever £15 top up (last June!!)
8 y o is petitioning for bank account. she currently has £179 saved up and wants to put it somewhere safe! she gets £1.75 a week

jura · 06/03/2008 16:16

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Original poster
wackyraces · 06/03/2008 16:23

I agree with Jammi school dinners are very expensive lucky my DS comes home for his. But I couldnt believe the other night he was moaning that the money he gets each month , (I have decided to give him £40 per month & top his phone up at £10 per month & money from his paper rounds as he now got an extra round one day a week that pays £10 per week so £22 per week he will earn), wherent enough for him to live on £138 for himself & its not enough wish I could spend that on myself each month.

OP posts:
razzie · 06/03/2008 22:58

my dd aged 13 gets her share of the child benefit each month paid into a bank a/c with a cashcard. out of that she has to finance all her social activities, clothing extras (ie not essentials or school related),magazines, friends prezzies etc.

i totally agree with the shoes from primark scenario, by the way!

i may give her some extra in hand if she was going to, say the spectrum(big leisure complex in guildford), or for a meal with friends, but other than that nothing.

  1. this has stopped the constant nag for money, and
  1. revealed a slight reluctance in my dd to spend money, funny that , it wasn't there when it was my money...
chenin · 07/03/2008 07:33

I am gobsmacked by how much some give their teens. You cannotbeserious.... you give your 13yo SD a total of £75 a month? That is a huge amount. Why are you paying a mobile phone bill of £35 a month? My mobile phone bill isnt that much...and I would never ever fund a teen for that amount on phone calls... I am truly amazed! [grin[

When my DDs were 13 they were on PAYG and they have always been responsible for their mobile phones and end up spending about £10 a month which they pay for. If you keep the money a bit tight for them, they soon get a job.

Some of the teens on here have no incentive whatsoever to get a job at 14 plus because they get everything paid for.

I started paying less to them so that they started looking around for jobs and it worked because they both started washing up at the local pub at 14/15. My DD2 is now 16 and I give her nothing because she earns.... I buy her some summer clothes and some winter clothes twice a year... the rest is up to her to earn and spend as she likes.

llareggub · 07/03/2008 07:45

When I was 14 I had a monthly allowance of £50. For this I had to buy everything I could possibly want or need, there were no extras. It was also linked to a requirement to help out in my father's business as and when he required it. I thought this was a real pain until I worked out I had enough experience to get a proper Saturday job somewhere else.

I loved having my own money and often used it to save for expensive clothes that I could not afford now 17 years later!

ska · 07/03/2008 09:53

i agree helliebean - it does seem like madness doesn't it? we give £20 and that is linked to a reduction in maintenance (agreed) & now we dont pay for anything except family treats out or special things, eg dress for grandads birthday party so we get some choice about what she wears! so she gets to understand the responsibility of money. we no longer sub her phone (previously £5 a month) also it is virtually impossible for teens to geta job these days. she cant do a paper round as she lives in 2 different villages (at least now in the same county!) and every single shop i go into i ask how old you need to be to wirk there. so far it has always been 18 (16 in the petrol station though, not sure about that) she has done some leafleting for our local organic box scheme but thats not very regular

barbarianoftheuniverse · 07/03/2008 10:56

I am feeling v mean. DS(15) and DD(11) get £20 a month each, which has to cover phones. (And does). If they want anymore they have to earn it helping out with non routine jobs (stacking dishwasher, bedrooms etc is routine) cleaning cars, gardening, washing floors is paid extra. They are perfectly happy with this, probably because all their friends are treated pretty much the same.

mumeeee · 07/03/2008 22:50

You are not mean barbarian. DD2 18 gets £30 a month ( yes she still gets an allowence as she is still at colege and has not got a job)and DD2 gets £25 a month. This covers most clothes ( I buyschool uniform and basic clothes).
I do sometimes put credit on their phones.
MIL gived them money for Christmas and sometimes when she visits.

cat64 · 07/03/2008 23:25

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