$120 Weekly allowance for a 16 yo!!

[JamesMom]

I was just surfing the net minding my own business and stumbled on this article.

A New York mom gives her daughter $120 a week in allowance and also contributes extra to big ticket items, like a prom dress, on top of that. What does she spend it on? Mom doesn't cook and her school doesn't have a cafeteria so she eats out around $50-60 a week. She pays for her own clothes, weekend activites and cab fare. A video showed some of her purchases included $100 zebra stripped sneakers and $100 bottle of Coco Chanel parfum along with $80 custom word gold necklaces that she admits that some have gotten lost.

Anybody else freaked out by this amount? Can't a 16 year go to work for some (most) of these expenses? Brown bag lunches? Take the subway? Good grief $500 a month would be sweet for me! LOL

Here's where I found the article/videos: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/StockInvestingTrading/Allowancebreakdown_article.aspx

 

[AKBAFB]

Wow! That's pretty ridiculous in my opinion. Heck, I'm just jealous....I wish I had $120 every week to blow on clothes, accessories, and perfume!

 

[wowsmom]

I wonder why the daughter gets $120 while the son "only" gets $80?

I can't imagine giving my kids that much allowance...but then, I also feed them - provide lunch money or packed lunches, etc., pay for their haircuts and clothes (and they are only 13 and 10).

ETA: I had to laugh when she said she has to eat lunch out since there is no cafeteria at her school. Has she never heard of PBJ sandwiches???

 

[ncbyrne]

If they are paying their kids that kind of moolah each and every week, can you imagine the parent's salary!? It's a whole lot more than we make! I can only dream.....

 

[tonilea]

Well, I feel really pitiful. I only get $20 a month in blow money.

 

[IDoDis]

I guess $120 for some people is like $10 to others -- it's all in your perspective. Some parents do go out and buy their kids whatever is their pleasure that day, so I guess if you look at it that way, the mom is letting the daughter make her own decisions and learning how to stay within her "budget" albeit it's large amount. Since her allowance is so large though, she is able to buy lots of wants and not needs.

My DD is 12 and gets $5 a week, IF she does all of her household chores which is rare. If she doesn't do the work, she doesn't get the money -- plain and simple. When she sees something she wants but doesn't need, she does without or has to do the work and save. I gave her $150 for her b-day this year instead of gifts, so she has been budgeting from that and making decisions on what is important to her. She bought a pair of shoes from Journey's and spent some of it here and there (ice cream at the mall), but for the most part, she still has a big chunk of it saved.

DS gets $4 a week (he's 9) and is saving and doing extra jobs around here because he wants an electric guitar. That is a "want" not a need and since it's not his birthday or Christmas, he has to save up. DH and I will help him since it would take a long time to save that much with the little amount he makes, but we said he had to save up at least the first $60.00 which is a little less than half the price for the guitar he wants. He has about $20 now.

 

[kathi29]

I have to admit I have considered this. DD thinks we have a money tree in the backyard.

I've thought about "giving" her X amount of dollars for the month. You want to take dance? Need new shoes? Clothes? How badly do you want that toy?

Most times she doesn't want a toy enough to pay for it out of her own money. But she doesn't realize how much dance class, costumes, shoes, and other things add up and that we can't do all that PLUS the other stuff.

 

[Mkaz]

I have to admit I have considered this. DD thinks we have a money tree in the backyard.

Our dd thinks the same. My dh keeps telling her it is bare, but she doesn't seem to believe him.

 

[eliza61]

Heck,
I'm 47 and wish some one would give me $120 extra a week. Since my teens are student athelets they don't have much time between studies and sports to get a part time job so they mainly earn money by doing chores around the house.
My oldest is a junior in H.S. and generally doesn't get an allowance because we pay for Jr. ring, Jr prom outfits and tickets, sports banquets etc, etc.
$10/week max is about what he gets.

 

[MrsNick]

I live in the NY metro area, and lots of kids here have obscene amounts of spending money, and fewer and fewer of them have any kind of a part time job or even a summer job. I had to laugh at the $120/week allowance. That's what I pay in property taxes (And people wonder why today's youth have entitlement issues )

 

[Crisgw]

I got 50/week growing up as a teen (graduated HS in 1996) and with the cost of everything skyrocketing, I don't think that's off base (120/w) esp. for gas/lunch/etc... My parent's didn't allow us to work in HS because we were supposed to focus on studying and our sports so that may be her case. Who knows.

 

[mountdew1]

If I liked the food at school, I got the 1.25 for the meal. Otherwise I had to make my own lunch at home. If I wanted a car, great. I had to pay for the car, the insurance, and the gas. If I couldn't, the bus would get to me to school. I only graduated HS in 1999 so inflation isn't that bad. Had a job starting at 14 and was still expected to keep A's and honor roll. $120 is outrageous.

 

[ObsessedwiththeMouse]

WOW, that seems pretty excessive!

 

[tfiga]

Just to chime in I received a $60 a week allowance, plus my dad paid for all of my clothes, lunches, car payment and car insurance at 16 (which was 20 yrs ago), but he was a single parent and I was responsible for all the household chores, cooking, cleaning, ironing, mowing the lawn etc. Quite honestly I feel that I earned the money. Many of these kids may have younger siblings to watch, responsibility in the homes that do not allow for them to get a job. If the work a child does at home is so substanial they are unable to get a job, I see nothing wrong with parents paying them to do it.

 

[laurafergie]

One of the best things I ever did years ago was tie allowance in with school lunches. I know this sounds funny....

But what I did was add up what lunches cost at school, for example - $2 a day. So lunch a week was $10, I did add a few dollars to the total for extras - like they could purchase a salad, ice cream or juice. Then the "allowance" was $10 a week.

The catch was they got all money at once - $25 a week. If they wanted to keep all of it for themselves, they could save by packing sandwiches. Or they could buy lunch at school.

I started this when they were about 10 years old and over the years added clothes money, etc.. They are 17 and 21 years and they both have complete control over their finances, purchases and budgeting.

 

[MrsNick]

Just to chime in I received a $60 a week allowance, plus my dad paid for all of my clothes, lunches, car payment and car insurance at 16 (which was 20 yrs ago), but he was a single parent and I was responsible for all the household chores, cooking, cleaning, ironing, mowing the lawn etc. Quite honestly I feel that I earned the money. Many of these kids may have younger siblings to watch, responsibility in the homes that do not allow for them to get a job. If the work a child does at home is so substanial they are unable to get a job, I see nothing wrong with parents paying them to do it.

Fair enough. But the young woman in the article did not appear to have any additional responsibilities. Neither she, nor her mother, mentioned that she had to do X, Y or Z to earn that money.

 

[ceecee]

The problem I see with this, is that it is teaching her that $120.00 is a minimal amount to just buy whatever you want. If she eats out for lunch she could be spending $10 a day, NY is a lot more expensive to live than a lot of places. The fact that she bought a lot of other items, means there's a lot left after lunch and cab fare. This will carry over to the adult years and she won't have a clue about debt. To some adults, that's a lot of $, hopefully she does some work for that. I just think it's teaching her, not to budget but instant gratification.

 

[disfan07]

in high school, the most i got was $12 a week but luckly my parents did pay for gas adn i never thought that i needed more than that a week....i could waste it or save it for something i really wanted....my parents also buy me my clothes but we only go to the mall 3 times a yr for clothes...i also have been babysitting for 7 yrs and all tat money usually goes into my savings account

i am now 18 and a freshman at community college and my parent still pay for gas just b/c of how far i have to drive (i fill my car once a week) but outside of gas money, i only get $20 a week for lnuches while im at school and i usually have money left over for snacks at school...i also have a debit card but i havent used it since i went to disney in december

i only graduated hig schol last yr and $120/week for a 16 yr old is insane .. at 18, even if I counted both my allowance and gas money it would still only be like $70-$80/week

 

[mrsklamc]

I got a place to live, and whatever I could get out of the refrigerator. I worked 20 hours a week starting at age 14 and 40 hours a week starting at age 16. I did extra curriculars and kept a high GPA, too.

But I wouldn't swap places with this girl for anything. I know how to work and how to take care of myself. She's a future bankruptcy filer waiting to happen.

 

[ssdeverell]

I like the concept of letting the daughter pay for things, but the amount does seem excessive. Of course, I have never lived in NY, so not sure of prices. When I was in high school, my dad paid $30 a week in child support. My mom gave that to me and I had to buy lunches, any other school activities, etc with it. I also worked at age 16 and that had to pay for my car, gas and clothes. Mom would buy me clothes here and there, but never as much as I thought I needed. I liked getting the money, and I do think it helped me learn to budget.

Interesting article, OP, thanks for sharing. I always like to see how others do things.