I have slowly come to the realization that many of my readers have kids *gasp*. :-)
In order to include more aspects of financial life, I hope to start including a few more blogs on children. Feel free to send me ideas to look into or guest posts if you feel like exposing yourself (sorry, couldn't help myself).
I remember a few failed attempts by my parents to pay me an allowance for doing certain chores. Yes, these attempts failed miserably since I hate chores and have indeed hired a housekeeper now that I’m all grown-up. :-) I made my money through Christmas, birthdays, and babysitting and hoarded it like a squirrel until I bought a tenor sax for middle school band for $525…then I started from scratch again.
BUT, my little sister was able to pull off an allowance of $10 a week regularly from age 10 and into her early teens. She was almost as much of a tight-wad as I was, but I do know she bought a few books and some candy now and again since we usually we shared our hidden stashes for variety. I still have my hollowed out candy book.
Do your kids get an allowance? If so, what do your kids buy? Also, do you have a family system like Trent over at The Simple Dollar? Are they required to save a certain amount?
Posts
1 day ago
No allowance yet for my little one, she's two. I plan on giving her an allowance when she gets older. I had one growing up and think its a good idea.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter already has a savings account. Anytime she receives money as a gift it goes into the savings account. She's already got a couple hundred dollars in there. I just have to figure out when I tell her about it.
My son gets an allowance of $20 twice a month, in addition to getting $15 per week when school is in session for lunch money. He doesn't have to do anything to get the allowance, but does have to do stuff as a part of being in the family. He is required to save at least 10% of everything he earns (plus of his allowance) for long term savings (like emergencies and retirement). He's been saving quite a bit for a car and college too though.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is only 1. She doesn't get an allowance yet.
ReplyDeleteMikeS, I'd suggest telling her when she starts showing interest...I was asking about my own account when I was 6 since I always seemed to be with my mom when she deposited dad's paychecks...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, good luck!
Jackie, I thought you were about 35 based on your picture at Money Crush...is your son a really well funded 10 year old? Anyway, the 10% rule is great...it's even better he decided to increase that on his own, right? :-)
ReplyDeleteJulie, yep, an allowance would be eaten...good call...lol.
ReplyDeleteMy Kids earn commission. They have a base set of stuff they have to do so they can eat and live at our house :-) and then on top of that they get paid for actual work they do. We also have fines for when they are misbehaving, disrespectful etc. It takes a lot more work and discipline on our end to make sure we are checking their work, making sure they record it, etc but in the end I know it will pay off. They are required to Give at least 10%, Save at least 10% then they can put the rest in spending if they like. I have one natural spender and one natural saver. It's been working pretty good so far, my oldest saved up to by his own Nintendo DS and my youngest just purchased his own Heelies. They've reached the part now where they are looking to expand their jobs so my 9 year old has taken on picking up dog poop, yes! Not too long and I'll have him mowing too.
ReplyDeletePaul, wow...that's a complex system. But it seems to be working as you'd like, so yay!
ReplyDeleteI wish you had talked to my dad when I was 10...I was expected to pick up dog poop and mow for free! I hate chores, so he usually ended up mowing and fussing that I was a procrastinator...hehehe. But the poop was non-negotiable. Yuck.