Allowances for Kids Keep Going Up

Kids have a pretty sweet situation with allowance money these days.

I think I scored $2 per week from my parents to start, and then later on I got an extra $1.50 or $2 for mowing certain sections of the yard. That’s how I could afford those hot eleven dollar jeans!

The average allowance nowadays is just over $16 a week or $65 per month, according to the American Institute of CPA’s. That comes out to about $780 each year.

Most kids do have to work for that dough. The CPA’s say nine out of ten parents make their kids work at least an hour a week to make the money. That’s $16 an hour on average. Not a bad gig. And what’s more, parents still foot the bill for movies and sports tickets and cell phone charges most of the time.

A few months ago I was checking out at the grocery store, and I mentioned to the checker how excited I was that two kids were out of diapers and we didn’t have that expense any more. She said, “Oh, don’t worry…you’ll find plenty of other things you have to pay for instead. It doesn’t end.” She totally rained on my parade that day, but she’s right! A parents’ job apparently is to pass out money.

Teach the kiddos to save up, so they’ll have something to pass to their young ‘uns someday.