WHEN someone mentions pocket money most people probably think of children earning a few gold coins for washing the car or walking the dog, but this isn’t the case for today’s youngsters.
Research from the Financial Planning Association (FPA) of Australia has revealed that kids these days are a lot more well-off than most people think, with some getting up to $40 a week in pocket money.
The study focused on the “invisible money generation”, which refers to children born after 2000, and surveyed over 1000 Australian parents with kids aged between four and 18.
Younger children aged between four and eight get the least amount of pocket money, with nearly half getting under $10 per week.
Most families increased their kid’s allowance as they got older, with those aged between nine and 13 earning anywhere from $5 to $19 each week.
For older teenagers aged between 14 and 18 their weekly pocket money rate started at $10 and went all the way up to $39.
The average income for the youngest group was $6.20, for the tweens it was $9.60 and for older teenagers the average weekly pocket money was $17.60.
The study also found that one in seven lucky teenagers are getting $40 or more each week.
The majority of Australian children are receiving some form of payment from parents or carers each week, with just over a quarter not getting any pocket money at all.
Children born after 2000 are a lot more involved with technology than previous generations and this is reflected in their spending habits.
While the majority of parents still say their children are more interested in buying tangible things — like toys, clothes or a bike — there was a significant number of kids turning to online purchases.
Out of the parents surveyed, 38 per cent said their kids were more interested in using their pocket money to buy things online like games, apps or movies.
“This trend toward online buying is particularly true for older children,” the report said. “According to their parents, children aged 14-18 are nearly as likely to take an interest in online purchases (47 per cent) as they are to take an interest in tangible purchases (53 per cent).”
Though the majority of kids these days might be getting more pocket money than previous generations, they were also very likely to have paid jobs outside of the home.
Over two in five parents said their teenage children had a job and nearly half of these started working before the age of 16.
This also resulted in more teens showing an interest in learning about responsible finance.
“Employed teens aged 14-18 are more financially prepared for the future, and according to their parents, transact with digital money more frequently, are three times more likely to show an interest in tax and five times more likely to show an interest in superannuation than their unemployed peers,” the report found.
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/kids/the-crazy-amount-of-pocket-money-australian-kids-are-getting/news-story/c292b82ee5cce35d55ebce79a78320e6