The cost of pocket money goes up

The average child starts receiving pocket money at seven years and four months. And it’s an average of £6 a week. That’s an annual income of £312 per child. By the time the child is ten, the total amount handed over is £936 and by the time the child hits 13, it’s £1,872.

These figures from CompareTheMarket’s new research also show that the cost to parents of handing over pocket money is going up. Today’s parents are giving their children two and a half times the amount of money that they received at the same age. When today’s parents were children, they received £2.30 a week, a difference of £3.70 a week and an annual difference of £193 with today’s children.

As children mature into young adults, the costs continue. Half of 17 to 24-year-olds have financial support to help them with the costs of running their car. Last year, the cost to parents to help their youngsters with their cars came to an average of £485.

While the intent behind pocket money and other forms of financial support might be to train awareness around money, parents still feel that the school system should help. Nine in ten British parents think that financial education should start in primary school. At the moment, financial education is not yet included in all secondary school curriculums.

However, parents can also do their bit to teach their children to be responsible about money with accounts such as Go Henry and given the amounts they are handing over when their children are older, it would pay to invest in Junior ISAs for them to soften the blow. To find DIY investment platforms that provide Junior ISAs, click here.

Photo by Darío Martínez-Batlle on Unsplash

Article is accurate at date of writing.