How much is too much?: Aussie kids receive $40 a week in pocket money

Gone are the days of working tirelessly doing chores to earn maybe a few cents of pocket money as a recent survey revealed that Aussie parents are now forking out a massive $40 a week to their beloved children’s piggy banks.

Cleaning, cooking, and helping out with general duties around the house may seem like a normal part of growing up, but for kids of the “invisible money generation” (those born after 2000), it’s more like a source of income.

In fact, a survey conducted by the Financial Planning Association has found some teenagers are earning as much as $40 a week, with even those under 10-years-old adding $10 a week to their savings by completing basic chores.

The study, published by Share the Dream, analysed a total of 1000 parents with the shocking figures revealing that nine to 13-year-olds are earning between $5 to $19 of pocket money a week, while older teenagers are taking claim to between $10 and $39 for their efforts around the house.

Discussing the topic on the Today Show on Monday, host David Campbell posed the question to parents whether $40 is too much and questioned how the amount compares to what they received themselves when they were younger.

Baby Boomers were quick to jump in on the chat, with many remembering just how little they received for the gruelling chores they helped out with each week.

“We got our 20C for the movies every Saturday but any extra needed we got from collecting glass soft drink bottles from the neighbours. We just had to do our jobs. No other choice,” one person commented on the Facebook post. 

While another simply said: “None, I did housework because you just did.”

Read more: ‘I remember the unusual way we used to earn pocket money’

There is no doubt times have changed as pocket money quickly becomes the norm for families across the country, far different to the 1950s and ’60s when some kids never received a cent from their parents.

This latest research has prompted the question, do kids have it too easy? One Today Show viewer certainly thinks so, explaining on the post how he built himself an impressive amount of savings from a young age.

“I got a job from the age of 12 delivering newspapers and working in a bakery before and after school,” he wrote. “Left school for full time exployment from 15 and paid my parents board of $100/week.”

What do you think? Is $40 a week in pocket money too much? Did you ever receive pocket money as a child?