The Going Rate For Kids’ Allowance Today

Is allowance keeping up with inflation? A new survey of parents with school-age children finds that the average kid is banking up to $52 a month in allowance. That’s $36 more than their parents did at the same age, after adjusting for inflation.

According to a poll of 2-thousand moms and dads, three in four give their kids a regular allowance.

• Many think it’s the key to children learning how to be responsible with money and they believe that should start as early as age 10.
• While 56% of parents still give their kids a cash allowance, some go high-tech with digital payment apps (17%) or pre-loaded debit cards (14%). And a few like to pay their kids in non-monetary ways, like with experiences (6%) or screen time (6%).
• Two-thirds believe they know exactly what they’re doing and teaching with this whole allowance thing, but 31% aren’t so sure and regularly consult with other parents for guidance.
• Overall, 78% believe their kids are responsible with money and 61% of them actually think their kid is more financially responsible than they are.
• When it comes to the rate, nearly nine in 10 (88%) believe in paying more for tasks that are harder for their kids to complete. This includes everything from babysitting siblings ($13 average allowance) to earning good grades ($12), to yard work ($11).
• Kids tend to make less for everyday tasks like being courteous to guests ($10), helping to clean up the house ($10), cleaning their room ($9), and general chores ($9).
• For two-thirds of parents, they’re motivated to give their kids an allowance because they feel it helps to teach them financial responsibility, while others do it to reward kids for accomplishments (59%), or to help them save for something specific they want (55%).
• But 24% don’t give their kids allowance, either because their children are too young (31%), don’t understand how to use it (22%) or already have a job (16%).
• Some parents also have issues about giving an allowance because their kids spend it all in one day (32%), complain they don’t get enough (23%), don’t like the tasks they have to do to get it (19%), or spend it on weird stuff (17%).
• Strange things kids have bought with their allowance include a spider sold by a classmate, bags of cheese, fish, a baby chicken, Labubus and Lafufus - which are fake Labubus.

Source: Talker

photo: GETTY