Pocket money..bank account...or both?

[Teri7489]

My daughter is turning 5 soon and just wondering if I should start giving her pocket money yet?

Or should I be putting money away in a bank account?

She's not interested in money but I really want to teach her to be sensible with it. I was never taught and so was silly as a teenager and young adult. Only now (a few months from 30) am I almost back on my feet from the mess I created. I don't want that for my children.

Advice as always, welcome and appreciated

 

[Scout]

My dd is 5, and she has a savings account I put money in each month. I give her my change for her piggy bank, but she really has no idea what the value of money is or how much things cost. She'll take a handful of coins, mostly pennies, and think she can go to Walmart and buy a $30 toy LOL I think it's great to teach kids about money, budgeting for what you want and so forth, and I plan to do that when dd is older and can understand.

 

[noon_child]

I think the time for pocket money is when they start asking for things that (to you) seem like a waste of money (either overpriced, or something crappy). I used to respond "I can't afford that right now, I need money for food/clothes. If you really want it you'll have to wait till B'day/Christmas" but as my girl got older she started on "But you and Daddy can buy whatever you want" (DH is a bit of an Amazon junkie to be fair) which of course led to "You can buy whatever you want when you have earned your own money" which made her ask how she could earn money. So now she has certain household jobs that she can earn money for. There are some that she has to do anyway as part of the family (like clear her place after dinner, keep her room tidy - yeah right! - feed the pets and tidy up after herself with toys etc.) but if she flattens recycling, or empties the dishwasher, pegs out laundry etc then she can earn some cash. This teaches her how long it takes to save up enough for these toys which then makes her more careful about whether she really wants that thing or not. Well that's the theory - in practise I think it take so long for her to save that as soon as she has ANY decent quantity of money saved up she's desperate to buy anything!!! However if she regrets it I think that is a really important part of her learning so I button my lip and sit on my hands while she buys absolute rubbish because her buyers remorse is SUCH a good lesson! Separate and unknown to her really is a savings account that we put money from relatives in and save in to ourself. This is a type of account she can't access till she is 18 so it's a high interest (supposed to be anyway) kids ISA to save for college or big necessary purchases.