Pocket money -how much???!!!

[beanhead]

Then again we are both earning. I wonder how ubiquitous the ‘allowance for husband’ system is?

For Japanese companies, it seems to be the norm (based on zero scientific research, just my friends and colleagues.)

[Wilbur]

Hi everyone.

I have an 8 year-old son, and would like to start giving him pocket money weekly.
I have no idea how much to give!
Inflation has no doubt changed the picture entirely! And parents values will have changed too!
So guys….what are your policies or amounts?

I haven't started giving an allowance to my kids yet but have I been thinking about it a lot lately.

I think I will do an allowance according to what school grade they are in. Grade 1, 100yen a week, grade 200yen and so on. For, junior high school I would probably start at around 1000 yen, at this this age kids are wanting to go out with friends to movies and stuff and buying some of their own clothes.

I want my kids also to be doing a fair bit of chores around the house. I don't want them to think that if I do this chore I get this amount of money, rather I want them to think that our family is like a business and we all contribute to it, and so everyone gets some dividends once a week.

I want to make some rules in the beginning that 10% has to going to some kind of savings like a piggy bank or bank account. It would be a great time to even offer them a compounded interest rate account at home, as a learning tool. I also want them to experience them paying for their wants and having the emotions of using their own money.

I think we as parents have a great opportunity to teach our kids about money if we can make time for it. Probably as we all know it really isn't something that is taught in schools.

[captainspoke]

Instead of household chores, which we didn't do, I asked our younger one to type out TOIEC questions 'for me', and it wasn't entirely just a pretext since I did have a goal for those in mind. I gave her a TOEIC practice test book, and she typed out the questions (obviously not the listening parts). And I then gave her another when that one was done.

I forget what rate I paid, but besides getting a pre-built question bank, she got good at typing, and there was all the input that that represented. ("oh, and you can mark the correct answers if you want, too") Many years later, of course with other catalysts along the way, she did really well on the TOEFL iBT.

[mighty58]

It probably also depends on where you live.

A European friend of mine lived in Denenchofu...

Indeed, but comparing to the richest neighbourhood in Japan isn't all that useful. I'm sure kids living in Malibu or Knightsbridge get lots too.

[TokyoBoglehead]

I would say start with progress charts, or mables in a jar. Allow them to first understand the basics, then introduce money later.

Younger kids can understand working towards a clear goal more clearly than working towards accumulating money as a means to an end.

Shape the initial rewards around what interests and motivates them.

[Deep Blue]

My eldest two (11 and 9) get 1,000 yen a month cash. The younger one (6) gets the same but we keep it for him.