What About Allowance?
This article comes from Amanda van der Gulik, owner and founder of Teaching Children About Money.
I have been asked again and again about allowances.
The questions are numerous but the main ones are:
- "Should I give my child an allowance?"
- "How much should I give my child as an allowance?"
- "When should I start giving my child an allowance?"
- "Will an allowance ruin my child's entrepreneurial spirit?"
I understand your questions.
Allowances are a very touchy subject and really come down to each individual's personal strategies for financial education for their child.
Teaching children about money can be very difficult and confusing for the parent as well.
Most of us were raised with the value that "money is evil," or "you don't need to have money to be happy." But have you had a good look around you lately? Can you find me a family who is in a lot of bad debt that is not stressing about its finances?
Maybe money doesn't make you happy but not having money will make you a lot more unhappy, I can tell you that for sure.
Just imagine, you have a recurring income of more than $10,000/month. How would that feel?
Would you feel stressfree because you are now able to pay off all of your expenses and thereby not create any bad debt?
How will you feel when you have money left over at the end of every month instead of living paycheck to paycheck?
What if you were financially able to give away 10% of your income, every month, without even noticing the financial impact? What would you give it to? Who would you like to help? How would it feel to be able to help others in need with the extra money that you are earning without even feeling the financial impact? It would be pretty awesome right?
So how does this tie into the topic of allowances?
Here are some of my own suggestions on the topic to get your financial juices flowing.
- Maybe when we give our children an allowance it might start to create the feeling of entitlement in our child?
- What if by giving our children an allowance we were actually hindering their financially creative minds? Would they be so used to just getting money that they wouldn't even bother to come up with creative new ways to earn their own money?
- And what about pride of ownership that comes when we are finally able to acquire our dreams by our own means instead of just as a gift from someone else?
These are just a few of my thoughts on this matter. I'd love to hear some of your ideas, suggestions or questions on the subject of whether or not we should be giving our children an allowance or not.
Like to read more on the subject?
Get my "How can you Raise a Young Entrepreneur" eBook Here.
Maybe you have some other ideas, besides the ones described in my
"50 Money Making Ideas for Kids" eBook on easy ways for kids to make money so they won't need an allowance?
I'd love to see your suggestions on my blog.
Author: Amanda van der Gulik Read more of her great articles on her website, Teaching Children About Money.
