Allowance for 17 year old

[wilko20]

My 17 yo DS1 has opened negotiations for a new monthly allowance. I'm up for it (the current arrangement isn't clear enough about who pays for what) but want a sense of what others consider reasonable. His opening pitch is £120 per month to cover everything except school stuff and mobile phone - a mate of his gets that (and I've checked and it's true). This seems a lot to me. Views?

Good god. That's triple what I'd be paying (and I ave an 18 year old!)

My soon-to-be-18 year old DS1 gets £100 a month for everything, including top ups for his PAYG phone. We pay his train fare to college and for his food at college. He does, though, also get another £10 every Friday as we usually all have a takeaway but he prefers to go out with his friends for his. So I guess he's really getting £140 a month!

Mine has got himself a job and earns £50 a week, he wouldn't get that from me. however I buy all his clothes and toiletries, he pays for his train fares, lunches, phone topups, going out and car out of his money (petrol, tax, insurance etc - we funded his learning and driving tests)

If he wants that much, tell him to get a Saturday job.

I suppose it's about what you can afford. We certainly won't be able to afford anything like that (13yo gets £10/month).

It also seems a bad idea to encourage very expensive habits just before they are going to leave home and have to learn to live on far less, particularly if they go into higher education. I found it an advantage when I started uni that I had never had a job and only a very limited allowance, so I hadn't become dependent on all the extras; my friends who were used to spending money all the time found it difficult to find time both for studying and for earning the money they needed.

DC1 (soon to be 16) gets £70/month. He pays for his clothes, train tickets, entertainment, social events etc from that. We buy his toiltries (the basics - if he wants fancy stuff then he busy it).

If your DC wants more tell him to get a Saturday job!

Our ds gets his EMA....we buy his bus pass for college and weekend travel and he gets £10 a week off us plus extras...I pack his lunch up and he has a contract mobile we pay for.

my 17yo gets about £350 a month DLA, out of that she gives ME an allowance to cover some of the costs of her care

otherwise £120 a month doesn't sound excessive - would like to see some effort to top up own income, but not at expense of A levels

I would encourage your DS to get a job and then you top up his income. That was a brilliant thing my father did for me when I was about that sort of age - if I worked, I got a regular top up from him. If I was being a lazy teenager, I got sweet fa.

My DSS is now 19. He has always had a part-time job since he was 13 or 14. Over the last couple of years DH has been paying a monthly allowance into a savings account for him, and DSS has used his earnings from his part-time job to pay for his usual stuff so didn't touch that money at all. After he smashed up his car on NYE, DSS had all this money available to put towards getting himself a newer and better model.

Bloody good idea to encourage the development of a good work ethic, imo.

Though then again, Rindercella, some teens might prefer to study really hard rather than working- would you see that as being lazy?

Imo, it should be possible to do both - I did and so does DSS

My nephew did. He's now at Cambridge studying English, but he certainly did have part time jobs while studying for his A' Levels.

There is enough time in the week to study and work

I am shocked by the money involved!

My parents [sermon coming] paid me nothing - I worked from the age of about 13 - babysitting, chambermaid, waitress, typing... They gave me enough money to buy lunch at college and put petrol in the car (I could borrow my parent's car)

If you have to pay your child to study at college they are never going to get through university without ridiculous debts

My just 18 year old gets £30 a month and per month that's way to much. When DD1 was on Drama club fees. No way would I give a 17 year old £120 She does get money from my MIL when she sees her but that's not very often and she has also had a lot of Christmas and Birthday money this year from various relatives so she is using some of that for social actovities at the moment. She is still at college and is trying hard to get a part time job. Whhen she does get one we will be stopping her alowence and she'll be expected to pay for everything from her earnings expect for college expenses.That's what happened with her sisters.Well I did still treat them from time to time.

My post seems to have got a bit muddled. I meant £120 a month for a 17 year old is way to much not the £30 we give to our 18 year old.

My almost seventeen year old gets £30 a month from us and £10 from my parents so £40 altogether. I pay for his clothes, toiletries, lunches, college books and bus fares to college and for him to go climbing every fortnight (£8). He pays for trips out with his friends , cinema, magazines, games, chocolate, etc. He is never short of money and often saves some. I think £120 is a lot and I think Cory makes a good point about not getting used to too much money too young.

My dd2 (age 16) gets £20-25/month. She cycles to school & makes packed lunches, we pay for other school expenses.
We also gave her extra money for her birthday to spend on clothes.

It's not very much compared with others on this post - the aim is to persuade her to get a Satuday job. However, she doesn't like going out partying/drinking much, so isn't actually spending that much money at present - not enough to incentivise her to job hunt anyway!

the year before the allowance began we agreed that whatever was spent in the next twelve months would be divided up by 12 and an allowance made for inflation. The allowance would cover all their own clothes and spending money. I paid for school uniform and school shoes. Plus if I decided that they needed something extra it was up to me to buy it.e.g. an outfit for a family wedding etc. The allowance was not to be spent on alcohol or drugs, or cigarettes.
The eldest wasted lots of money on makeup, the son wasted his on war hammer and the youngest spent her money on fabric and made more money by making cushions, bags etc to sell to her friends. She has had a money making talent from an early age. Now they are adults they don't have credit cards, they save up for anything they need and they say that although they thought I was the worst mum in the world when they were teenagers, I actually did a good job.

I'd say time for him to get a job!
Seriously he wants that much AND his phone?

My 18 yr old gets £20 month from me (and £15 into her savings ) , £25 phone bill and that's it.. she has to earn the rest.

She works a rubbish cafe job at weekends and holidays, and is studying for A levels..(off to med school so working for top grades).
She has learned to budget well.. pays for her own bus pass each month, buys clothes .
I buy personal care products..shampoo tampax etc but makeup etc she has to budget for..and does.

I can't imagine being able to give a child £120 a month and I wouldn't actually want to.. learning to earn their own is better.

My nearly 17 yr old works 4 evenings a week slapping pizza dough for his disposable income ..he gets the same as his sister allowance wise. It took both of them 6 months searching to find jobs, but there ARE jobs out there

I think you need to sit down and carefully work out what he needs, what you are providing now and what he wants which is where you need to ensure a shortfall to motivate him to get a job.

ds1 is only 12 and gets £85 a month. Yes, I know that sounds like a huge amount. But he manages all his outgoings from this and we don't give him any extras. In term time his bus pass costs £36 per 4 weeks and school lunches are £40. On top of that he pays for his own cinema trips, yu-gi-oh club, phone top-ups, plus snacks and so on.

I don't intend increasing this amount very much ever, except for inflation. If he wants to run an expensive phone contract, go out partying or whatever, he will need to get himself a job. He's already got his name down for a paperround when he hits 13.

According to my foster parents handbook dd should expect to receive £30 per week pocket money plus £30 per week into a savings account for when she leaves care.

I assume but I'm not sure that they expect her not to work til she leaves full time education. (I don't agree, I had a part-time job from 12)

i'd tell him to geoff off and get a job tbh.

Like Riven, my almost 16 year old gets his child benefit, so fifteen pounds a week. I pay for his school uniform and equipment, he pays for other clothes. I provide food for packed lunches, but if he wants school canteen food, he pays for it.
He also has an after-school job that nets him an extra twenty quid a week, which probably makes him up to what your 17 year-old would like.
I am afraid I am also of the 'get a job' persuasion. DS1 has a clearer understanding of the value of money now he has to clean up at the local butchers for it!