You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
So the kids both get £5/week pocket money. This is normally paid in cash to both.
This is fine for my daughter who likes to save and then get something she likes - £80 of Harry Potter Lego the other week.....
Lad on the other hand (and this is partially my fault) asks for a couple of weeks worth to be put on his Xbox in advance or spends it when he gets it.
I invariably sometimes loose track of who has been paid and who has had an advance - did think of a spreadsheet or similar but have been thinking about those pre-paid/top-up cards like Go Henry or Nimbl.
Anyone use these and how well do they work?
Can the card be used to buy/top-up Xbox account and the such like?
Kids are 12 (lad) and 7 (daughter) if that makes any difference.
Thanks
Cash I have 2 kids so quite easy to recall what I've given them.
Monthly standing order, they both have bank accounts with debit cards (14 & 11)
Don’t pay “advances” except in genuinely exceptional circumstances - he needs to learn to wait till he has the money / save.
Give them a £5 note each on a Friday tea time? What happens after that is up to them.
+ what Poly said.
Go Henry here...it is fine but only 1 parent can be the administration, so the other can't manage the card (probably not an issue if mum and dad are still together).
What age does pocket money start for most? I thought this would be a secondary school thing but suspect I am behind the times! Still my little one is only 4 so no need to worry yet - I just buy lego that we both want! 🙂
Our older two get allowance for clothes and things, that's DD as it's more. Means they're also learning to use electronic money.
Pocket money in our house has been since before school.
As soon as they're old enough they have washed cars / weeded to earn more, then paper rounds, now McD's now.
Use one of those old fashioned things called a calendar. You write what you paid to who each week.
Don’t pay “advances”
Really the whole point of pocket money is to gain an understanding of 'opportunity cost'. That if you want A you have to not have B, if you want this now you can't have that later and so on.
It doesn't work obviously - otherwise half the threads on here would never happen 🙂
But at the moment you have one kid demonstrating that if something is worth paying for its worth waiting for and another doing the whole live now pay later thing (and hoping that if you forget they don't have to pay later)
One of those attitudes isn't entirely healthy
I think Go Henry is excellent!
It also has tips on money management and is good for helping the little darlings understand money better
If you know someone who uses it they can introduce you and split some introduction bonus = free money!
I just put any cash they earn by doing chores into a paypal account for them - the grandparents give them £10 cash when they see them (usually once a month or thereabouts)
We use go Henry too.
We always pay cash so our children learn to understand the concept of money and get to do some basic maths too when counting/spending the money. (Two girls aged 9).
Don’t pay “advances”
I think they're fine as long as you charge an extortionate percentage rate and send then threatening letters when they fail to pay back the loan. That way you can teach the perils of pay day loans at a young age....
don't give mine pocket money.
I just put any cash they earn by doing chores...
This. Teaching mine that moneys is earned not given in the main. They have money boxes, and if they want to buy something we discuss value vs purchase and spend vs balance in the money box.
Both kids have Child savings accounts, so sometimes we secrete money away e.g. Jnr wanted a BMX. I found one on eBay for £36 but said he had to contribute £10 if he wants it. He gave me the £10 from his money box, which I then paid into his Junior investment account without him knowing.
don’t give mine pocket money.
I wasn't offering to
Really the whole point of pocket money is to gain an understanding of ‘opportunity cost’. That if you want A you have to not have B, if you want this now you can’t have that later and so on.
OT: That's not quite the full definition of opportunity cost.
Opportunity cost is buying a new bike and selling the old one, the opportunity cost is cost of taking up that opportunity (i.e. cost of new bike - old bike). Conversely there is always an opportunity cost of owning the bike, as you always have the opportunity to sell it. Even once you've paid for it, there's still an opportunity cost Vs selling it and sticking the money in a savings account.
Or the flip side of the "fallacy of sunk cost", for example you've just spent £1000 on a new engine for your £1000 car, and then the turbo need doing next month for another £1000, and you know the injectors need doing soon as well. The fallacy is thinking "in for a penny, in for a pound" and just throwing money at it. The opportunity cost the cost of each incremental fix (and the opportunity to own a working car, or not). In that case the lowest opportunity cost would be to sell the car for scrap (despite the recent £1k engine) and just buy another one.
Or the cost of labour, if my car's brakes are done at a garage it's £300, the parts are £150, so the opportunity cost of paying someone to do it Vs my own time is only £150 as I would be paying £150 regardless, i.e. there is no opportunity to save that.
Although yes, you can use it to justify paying over the odds for popcorn at the cinema, if you judge that opportunity to be worth more than a bag of butterkist and watching a pirate copy on your phone.
Don’t pay “advances” except in genuinely exceptional circumstances – he needs to learn to wait till he has the money / save.
We do that. We let our kids get deep into debt* so they know how miserable it feels whilst it's still safe and inconsequential.
* sometimes as much as four or five week's worth of pocket money
OT: That’s not quite the full definition of opportunity cost.
the definition of 'Opportunity Cost' is the loss of other alternatives when you make a choice. It applies to all sort so decisions, not just ones about money.
I pay mine in stocks and shares or gold bullion.
I pay mine in Venezuelan Bolivars.
They get 1,612,903 each every Friday.
Keeps 'em fit loading it into the wheelbarrows and taking it down to the Bureau de Change.
Mine get paid 5 cash, but only when asked at the moment (she and I both forget). But when she gets a bank account this year I'll set up a standing order.
Interesting thread; have just clicked onto the Go Henry site and may consider using this for our two. How do the collective go about pocket money conundrum for different ages (my two girls are 9 and 13) - do you give them the same or slightly more for the eldest?
Forgot to add - mine currenlty don't have "regular" pocket money. We tend to splash out on an "as needs" basis. Which in the longer term may not be entirely sustainable and as has already been pointed out, doesn't teach them about the value of money!
Mine's too young for pocket money (his needs are simple and met mainly by boobs).
For when he's older, I like what my dad did for my brother and me - we had an account each with the Big Daddy Bank, pocket money went in there if we wanted, along with money for odd jobs and any birthday or Christmas money. There was an attractive interest rate: 1% a month, I think. Those were the days! Little pocket account book with it all noted down. I'm pretty certain overdrafts were not available.
I think you had to be 13 then for a proper bank account with a debit card. Opened one of them when could.