Give pocket money as pay, otherwise you're 'trust fund teaching': blog discussion

Pocket money is a useful teaching tool, but if you're really poor it can be a drain you just can't afford. My Dad was self-employed, so we tended to ask for money for specific things we needed, if he had it then we got it, if he was skint we didn't. Probably taught me to be more careful with money than normal pocket money because I didn't know when I would next be able to get some from him. Can't ever remember it being attached to behaviour/chores. We did get paid if we were helping him at work, pretty sure I went from 20p, to £1, to £5 a day (never did get the hang of negotiating properly with him, but I got whole uninterrupted days with him that I still treasure the memory of, so I don't feel it was that unfair).

People think I am mad to give my two year old daughter pocket money. But she is already showing responsibility!

Each week she gets 6 50p pieces - 2 from me, 2 from my mum and 2 from her great grandad. She puts half in her purse and half in her money box.

She knows that the ones in her purse will buy a comic, or some sweets, but the ones in her money box are for taking on days out. She is even learning the basic values of them - 1 coin for a bag of chocolate buttons, 4 for her favourite comic.

We didn't get pocket money as children, my parents couldnt afford it. As teenagers we all got after school jobs to buy what we wanted. I was always very proud that I had earned everything myself, and managed to stretch my wages out to get everything I needed.
Then when I got a real job after I left school the money went to my head leading to years of overspending (the ease at which I could get store cards, catalogues and credit cards as an 18yr old was amazing!).
It is only now, 10 years down the line, that I have learned how to budget and manage my money. I wish someone had drummed this into my head at a much earlier age!

as a kid, i didn't get pocket money. instead, i worked out ways to save money for the household (for example switching phone supplier, utilising reward schemes to best potential, seeking out cheaper petrol), and took a percentage commission.

seriously.

(one of the best was when we were with BT, I nagged my parents for Sky tv, they said they couldnt afford it, so i got them to move phone calls to skytalk - the saving more than paid for the Sky subscription )

I had regular pocket money sometimes, but then it normally stopped after a while as my parents couldn't afford it, so then I would rely on 'windfalls' eg catching parents in a particularly generous mood, or visiting a great aunt who would give us a pound. Thinking about it now I have a vague memory of my mum being cross because us children had saved our money (we weren't in the habit of ever walking round the shops) and she realised that we had more cash in our piggy banks than she had in her purse... I think that was when the pocket money stopped. I wonder if that feeling of disapproval about saving has ended up colouring what happened next...

Then I got a paper round when I was 13 at my mother's insistence and have worked ever since... but I'm still a debtdesperado! I remember my sister commenting that I wasted my money when we were about 15 or so, and I had loads of cheap bangles that I'd bought and never worn... it took another 15 years to have my LBM. The only thing I learnt (and am really, really good at) is living on fresh air and sunshine when I have no money, which is often.