Comments on: Using Allowance to Teach Kids About Money

By: Wise Money Decisions - » More Ideas on Allowance for Kids

Wise Money Decisions - » More Ideas on Allowance for Kids — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:41:41 +0000

[…] In the short time I’ve done this blog, the most widely read article by far is how my parents handled allowance. When I mentioned it to the friend that gave me the idea for the article, he suggested royalties […]

By: This Week in Carnivals - 1st Week in March | Debtbeater

This Week in Carnivals - 1st Week in March | Debtbeater — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:25:51 +0000

[…] Wise Money Decisions: Using Allowance to Teach Kids About Money - this one I can relate to and have been meaning to share my strategies for teaching kids about money as well. […]

By: Father Sez » Archive » Round up for week ending 6 March 08

Father Sez » Archive » Round up for week ending 6 March 08 — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:44:27 +0000

[…] of Wise Money Decisions talked about how his dad paid him and his siblings allowances. I liked the way that his dad had a family meeting when the allowance was distributed. It also […]

By: Growing Money » Blog Archive » Carnival of Personal Finance #142

Growing Money » Blog Archive » Carnival of Personal Finance #142 — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:09:43 +0000

[…] Using Allowance to Teach Kids About Money […]

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:16:02 +0000

D4L:

I’ll date myself too: I grew up using DOS-based Lotus. My dad used Lotus and old WordPerfect (WordPerfect 1.0?) for over 20 years — until he got rid of his old 8088 in 2006 and joined the rest of the world on Windows and Office.

If he had kept the old computer I’m sure he’d still be using Lotus 1-2-3. Just goes to show that good software is timeless!

Thanks for your comment. I look forward to your carnival on Friday.

Jeff

By: Dividends4Life

Dividends4Life — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:20:38 +0000

Jeff: That was a wonderful post! It provided me with some great ideas on how to address allowances with my kids. Excellent post! Thanks for sharing it. I plan to include your article in my weekly carnival review this Friday.

BTW: I used Lotus 1-2-3 for the first 10+ years of my career. Let me really date myself - my first Lotus was DOS-based.

Best Wishes,
D4L

By: Wise Money Decisions - » Carnival of Personal Finance

Wise Money Decisions - » Carnival of Personal Finance — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:49:28 +0000

Follow up post here.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:04:44 +0000

Peggy:

Your system has some similarities to what I grew up with. My siblings and I each had chores that were not tied to allowance. Our list of chores was quite a bit longer. I usually blocked out an hour on weekdays and 2-3 hours on Saturday for unpaid chores.

Your matching purchase program is interesting. I can see how it would encourage them to save up enough for the bike. Did you ever worry that it encouraged your kids to “save to spend” rather than “save to save”? After all, they doubled their money if they spent it.

Thanks for your comment.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:56:33 +0000

fathersez:

Sounds like your kids believe the weekly allowance is enough. Maybe you really are raising little socialists!! Just kidding of course. I’ll bet when they grow older and they need money to buy a car, they’ll reform and take the extra jobs.

Thanks for your comment.

By: Peggy Portner

Peggy Portner — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:14:17 +0000

Here are ideas that worked for my 4 kids (a girl & 3 boys, all 2 yrs apart).
Since all families have disposable income AND chores, I separated the two (per Marguerite Kelly’s Mother’s Almanac). There were four daily chores: feed cats, set the table, empty dishwasher, dustbust the stairs & front hall. These rotated every week, per a posted schedule. In the summer, I added: BRT: bed, room, toilette (make the bed, tidy room, do your personal toilette-teeth,nails,hair,etc)
As a separate action, not connected to chores, each child received ten cents for each year of their life (now it’d be a dollar per year), starting at about 3 or 4 yrs old.
Because 40 cents doesn’t buy much, we agreed from the beginning to pay 1/2 of EVERYTHING they bought that cost over $1. We started with hardback books, went thru bikes, right up to cars for college. I can’t recommend this strategy enough - it’s discouraging looking at a $450 bike, but enough lawns mowed will earn $225!!
The last piece was earning more than your allowance: I had an ‘extra jobs’ list posted and any time you did an extra job, you got paid. Examples are: wash windows: 5 cents/pane, vacuum any room, ditto dust, iron, etc etc…..whatever I could think of…..
My kids are grown (26-33) now and say they loved & will carry on my ‘financial policies’….