When do you start with pocket money?

A while ago the topic ‘pocket money’ came up. When to start with pocket money? I had no idea.

My eldest is four years old and sometimes gets a penny here and there but that's as far as I could get. So I went to investigate.

When to start with pocket money?

At our house both children have a savings account where we save for them. In addition, they both have a piggy bank, which I thought looked especially nice. Every now and then they get a coin and they put it in their piggy bank.

They don't get pocket money yet. I also had no idea when to start with that. Time for a mini survey.

I was soon told that the Nibud has guidelines for this. According to that study, most parents start with pocket money when their children are six years old. They get on average 50 cents to 2 euros per week.

45% of children receive pocket money from the age of 5. Of course, this also very much depends on your spending limit and the needs or interests of the children themselves.

What others do?

So if I were to follow the Nibud guidelines my eldest would have to wait another 2 years. I myself, however, have more of an idea to start a little earlier. So I was also very curious about what my blog colleagues’re doing.

I asked several people.

Linda; We started giving pocket money at age 6. We give 1.50 Euros. The 50 cents they put in a piggy bank to actually save and so in a while they take it to the bank for their account.The 1 euro they can put in their wallet and spend it on what they want.

So I don't decide what they can or cannot buy from that; they are free to decide that.

Miranda; I started at 6 years old with €0.50 and he is now 9 years old and now gets €2 a week. He saves on his own account but also regularly buys something from it. We leave it up to him.

But it's more of a saver than a spender.

Marguerita; Aislynn got pocket money every Saturday since her 5th birthday. For this she has to do a small job like putting empty bottles in the bin, watering plants, helping with the dishwasher etc. so she learns that you don't just get money for nothing. At the Bigbazar they have nice children's wallets for little money.

What am I going to do next myself?

I estimate my eldest as someone who can save quite well but also likes to buy something with his own money. So I like Linda's idea too. Some of the pocket money in the wallet and some to take to the bank.

This way children get the notion of saving and actually have money in their hands. I think five is a great age to start giving pocket money weekly.
Could I also hold out until sir is five years old? 😉

When do you start/start giving pocket money?

♥ ♥ ♥ Fulltime Mama uses affiliate links. This means that if you click on one of the links, we might get a small commission on it. It costs you nothing extra, but it does give us something extra. With these proceeds we can maintain this website. Also, sometimes we get paid for an article or we get a product in exchange for a blog post.

This still leaves our opinion unchanged and honest. For more information please read the disclaimer. ♥ ♥ ♥