Starting to think my son should learn about money management but I have no idea what's reasonable. Should I tie it to chores? Just give him a set amount? How much money are we talking - like $5 a week? $10? Our area has a higher cost of living (Portland metro) so I'm not sure what the baseline even is. What does everyone else do?
We do $8 a week for our 9yo and tie it to the basics (keep room not a disaster, take out trash, feed dog). Extra chores for extra money. Seems reasonable for that age
the chore debate is real. i tried no-strings allowance first and it felt weird. switched to tying it to "family responsibilities" rather than individual tasks and that's worked better - takes the payment vibe out of it a little
Started my oldest at 10 with $10/week, no strings attached. Then we have optional chores for extra money. Lets him learn to budget without resentment building up
Tying it to chores is good bc it teaches cause and effect - you contribute, you get paid. But don't make him do every single chore for it or it feels like a job instead of an allowance
The $5-10 range seems to be what most people we know do. I'd say $7-8 is sweet spot for that age
honestly $5 seems low depending on where you live. we're doing $8 and let him choose what to save for vs what to spend. he wanted a $40 game and watching him track progress toward it has been way more educational than any chore chart
Just make sure he actually has something he wants to buy or he won't care. My son gets his allowance and just hoards it until there's something specific. That's fine, teaches saving, but yeah he needs motivation
same boat. started at $5, but our son is 10 this month too. what we found is that he needed to see the direct connection between the money and what he wanted. we let him "buy into" screen time options so he's not just getting it free
We do $5/week for our 10yo tied to basic stuff like keeping his room not a disaster and helping with dishes. The chore thing matters because otherwise it feels like free money. He's already learning that candy costs more than he gets in a week lol
replying to the $8/week comment - this is actually smart. inflation is real and $5 doesn't go as far as it used to. at 10 he can probably handle thinking about actual purchases he wants
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Real talk - the amount matters less than the consistency and teaching him what money actually means. We do $10 every Friday so he knows when it's coming and has to plan around it