Thursday, September 25, 2008

Kids & Money

Like many parents, I give my kids an allowance. They are 6 and 7 years old and get one dollar per year of age per week. This translates to $6 and $7 per week respectivley.

Since this is a tidy sum (we had to add a line item for it in our household budget!) for little people, we have a general guideline:

- Deposit 1/2 your cash before Mom or Dad will take you to the store to buy something.

We call it the "pay yourself first" discipline similar to having money taken our of your paycheck for retirement or savings.

This is all fine and they each have more than $100 in their accounts, but we missed one point . . . when are they allowed to make a withdrawal?

One child has been asking to make a withdrawal for simply buying more of something he already has a lot of, Pokemon Trading Cards. I had imagined this money for bigger items like skateboards or the like, but I'm really confused on how to manage the withdrawals.

I've been stalling, but the kids are restless.

Ideas?

1 comment:

NicciN said...

Wow, I wouldn't have thought of that either. Instinctively, it doesn't feel like you should be able to withdraw for more trading cards. But then how do you draw the line in a way that makes sense to kids? Good question, and am curious to hear what you decide.

At what age did you start the allowance?