Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #1191 - Should You Pay for A's? The Pocket Money Debate
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Pocket money, how much? How often is it LinkedIn chores?
- 0:10Speaker 1: Our views have evolved on pocket money. Today we will
- 0:13Speaker 1: answer as many questions as we possibly can to help
- 0:16Speaker 1: you to get the pocket money mixed right, because it's
- 0:18Speaker 1: one of those perennial parenting problems and that's what we do.
- 0:22Speaker 1: We solve real parenting solutions every day. Welcome to the
- 0:26Speaker 1: Happy Families Podcast, Australia's most downloaded parenting podcast. I'm Justin.
- 0:29Speaker 1: I'm here with Kylie, my wife from under our six kids.
- 0:32Speaker 1: Every Tuesday on the podcast, we answer your tricky questions
- 0:35Speaker 1: about family and relations ships and wellbeing and screens and
- 0:39Speaker 1: discipline and the list goes on. If you would like
- 0:42Speaker 1: to submit your own tricky question, please jump onto our website,
- 0:46Speaker 1: Happy families dot com dot you click the button that
- 0:49Speaker 1: says record and start talking. It's a super simple system.
- 0:53Speaker 1: If that doesn't work for you, just send us a
- 0:55Speaker 1: voice note podcasts at happy families dot com dot you.
- 0:59Speaker 1: Now for today is tricky question?
- 1:01Speaker 2: Hi Justin and Kylie, It's Elise here.
- 1:04Speaker 3: Really simple question for you.
- 1:06Speaker 2: I'm just struggling to work out how.
- 1:07Speaker 3: To do pocket money and whether we should pay for
- 1:10Speaker 3: chores or not.
- 1:11Speaker 1: Do you have any advice Kyler. To start the podcast today,
- 1:14Speaker 1: We're going to play a game. It's called yes and No.
- 1:17Speaker 1: Here are the rules. You must answer a whole bunch
- 1:21Speaker 1: of questions that I've got for you, and all you're
- 1:23Speaker 1: allowed to do is say yes or no. We want
- 1:25Speaker 1: to make this easy for any parent who's trying to
- 1:27Speaker 1: work out how to deal with the pocket money thing.
- 1:30Speaker 1: Are you ready for question number one?
- 1:31Speaker 3: What if I don't?
- 1:33Speaker 2: Yes?
- 1:33Speaker 1: That wasn't a yes or a no. I just asked
- 1:35Speaker 1: you a question. Are you ready and yes? You've already
- 1:38Speaker 1: blown it? Here we go? Okay? Question number one? Should
- 1:40Speaker 1: pocket money be a right rather than something earned through chores?
- 1:46Speaker 3: I don't like your wording. I can't answer.
- 1:49Speaker 1: Yes or no? Should pocket money be a right rather
- 1:52Speaker 1: than something earned through chores?
- 1:54Speaker 3: Sure? Yes?
- 1:55Speaker 1: Yes, so pocket money's a right? Yes, you don't earn
- 1:58Speaker 1: it through chores?
- 1:59Speaker 3: No?
- 2:00Speaker 1: Okay? Would I love? How hard? This is the easy question?
- 2:05Speaker 1: Would you continue giving pocket money if our children were
- 2:08Speaker 1: not keeping their room tidy?
- 2:10Speaker 3: Yes?
- 2:11Speaker 1: Through grid teeth? Would you give our child double pocket
- 2:15Speaker 1: money if they got straight a's no? Should we just
- 2:18Speaker 1: out annoyed? Should we give it?
- 2:20Speaker 3: I feel like I'm in an exam. You're just trusting
- 2:22Speaker 3: me out.
- 2:23Speaker 1: Should we increase pocket money automatically each year on our
- 2:26Speaker 1: children's birthdays?
- 2:27Speaker 3: No?
- 2:28Speaker 1: Would you? I thought we were on the same page.
- 2:30Speaker 1: You've just You've just gone from where I was going
- 2:33Speaker 1: to I think every okay. Would you stop pocket money
- 2:36Speaker 1: as a punishment for bad behavior?
- 2:38Speaker 3: No?
- 2:38Speaker 1: And the last one. Should we require our kids to
- 2:41Speaker 1: save a percentage of their pocket money as savings?
- 2:44Speaker 3: Yes?
- 2:44Speaker 1: All right, now, I've got a couple of fun ones
- 2:46Speaker 1: before we dive into the details. Have you ever borrowed
- 2:48Speaker 1: money from one of our children's piggybanks?
- 2:52Speaker 3: Oh? Maybe, back in the early days. Yes, I may have.
- 2:55Speaker 1: How bad it's that. Have you ever pretended not to
- 2:57Speaker 1: have change just to avoid paying the kids pocket money?
- 2:59Speaker 3: No? Have you? Actually? It was one of my favorite
- 3:03Speaker 3: things to do to sit down on a Sunday night
- 3:06Speaker 3: with the kids and pull out the money tin.
- 3:09Speaker 1: Have you ever found pocket money in the washing machine
- 3:11Speaker 1: and kept it?
- 3:13Speaker 3: I don't know if it was pocket money, but I
- 3:14Speaker 3: keep everything that I found in the washing machine.
- 3:17Speaker 1: Have you ever blamed me when you forgot to give
- 3:19Speaker 1: the kids pocket money?
- 3:20Speaker 3: Oh?
- 3:20Speaker 1: Yeah, all the time. Oh my goodness. All right, today
- 3:23Speaker 1: we answer the big questions, the tricky questions, the sticky
- 3:26Speaker 1: questions around pocket money. Let's unpack a couple of these.
- 3:29Speaker 1: First off, should pocket money be a right rather than
- 3:32Speaker 1: something earned through chores? You said pocket money should be
- 3:35Speaker 1: independent of chores. You just get pocket money, full stop.
- 3:38Speaker 1: End of story. Let's unpack that.
- 3:40Speaker 3: Well, the only reason I stumbled on that one was
- 3:42Speaker 3: because I don't believe it's a right that our children
- 3:44Speaker 3: get pocket money. I actually think it's a privilege.
- 3:46Speaker 1: Yes, So if you're a privileged position where you can
- 3:47Speaker 1: afford to pay the kids pocket money, you should do
- 3:49Speaker 1: it and not link it to them completing stuff in
- 3:52Speaker 1: the house. That's exactly right. All right, Let's explain why
- 3:54Speaker 1: we've talked about this. You and I have been raising
- 3:57Speaker 1: kids for twenty five plus years. Now, why did we
- 4:01Speaker 1: land there? Because it's very different to what a lot
- 4:03Speaker 1: of well known experts, including Scott Plaid Barefoot investor, would say.
- 4:07Speaker 3: Being part of a team, or in this case, part
- 4:10Speaker 3: of a family, requires a team effort for things to
- 4:14Speaker 3: function and flow properly. It's actually a privilege to be
- 4:18Speaker 3: a part of that team, to be a part of
- 4:19Speaker 3: that family, and things function when everybody plays a part.
- 4:24Speaker 3: Everybody takes a part, and everybody takes responsibility for how
- 4:28Speaker 3: things function.
- 4:29Speaker 1: That means that they bring their washing into the room,
- 4:32Speaker 1: it means to help with the dishes. It means that
- 4:34Speaker 1: they're involved in assisting in the house. That's part you
- 4:38Speaker 1: do is part of a family. But if that's the case,
- 4:42Speaker 1: what's the purpose of the pocket money.
- 4:43Speaker 3: Pocket money is about teaching our children financial literacy.
- 4:47Speaker 1: Great, great, so this is something that we're going to
- 4:50Speaker 1: discuss further in a moment. But chores are what you
- 4:52Speaker 1: do because you're part of the family. Receiving cash from
- 4:56Speaker 1: the parents is about teaching you about money and how
- 4:58Speaker 1: it works things. I know some people say, well money
- 5:01Speaker 1: works as in you get it for doing stuff, But
- 5:04Speaker 1: in this case, we're going to make the argument alternatively.
- 5:07Speaker 1: Our first pocket money rule is that money comes independent
- 5:11Speaker 1: of responsibilities. The second one was that we would continue
- 5:15Speaker 1: giving pocket money if our child wasn't keeping their room tidy,
- 5:18Speaker 1: which links directly with what we've just talked about. If
- 5:21Speaker 1: your child's not keeping their room tidy, threatening them with
- 5:25Speaker 1: no more pocket money is not going to start me
- 5:27Speaker 1: motivate better behavior in terms of room tidy.
- 5:30Speaker 3: Well, it just becomes a bribe, it becomes a carrot,
- 5:32Speaker 3: it becomes a punishment or a reward for being part
- 5:36Speaker 3: of the family. Yet again it doesn't It actually is
- 5:39Speaker 3: counterproductive to what we're actually trying to achieve.
- 5:41Speaker 1: And you know what happens as well, is you start
- 5:43Speaker 1: to get in the case of the kids and say, well,
- 5:45Speaker 1: you're just not going to get any pocket money, and
- 5:47Speaker 1: the kids have a bit of a rent and rave
- 5:48Speaker 1: they get upset because they need money. But then they
- 5:49Speaker 1: don't get the money, and you know what they do,
- 5:51Speaker 1: They start winging because I want money. And then you
- 5:53Speaker 1: try to say, well, if you kept your room tidy,
- 5:55Speaker 1: and it just leads to meltdones and they become less motivated,
- 5:58Speaker 1: not more motivated, tight of the room moreover, and I
- 6:01Speaker 1: think this is probably the more important thing. Research shows
- 6:05Speaker 1: that when you pay somebody for doing something, their motivation
- 6:08Speaker 1: for doing it increases while they're being paid. But once
- 6:11Speaker 1: you take away the carrot of the coins, once you
- 6:14Speaker 1: take away the pocket money, once you take away the incentive,
- 6:17Speaker 1: their motivation drops below where it had previously been.
- 6:21Speaker 3: But also, over a period of time, whatever the dollar
- 6:25Speaker 3: amount is that you've placed value on that job, it
- 6:29Speaker 3: no longer ceases to be enticing. So if I'm giving
- 6:32Speaker 3: kids five dollars to clean the car, after a while,
- 6:36Speaker 3: they'll go, you know what, I actually value the half
- 6:39Speaker 3: an hour that takes me to clean more than I
- 6:42Speaker 3: value the five dollars.
- 6:43Speaker 1: I think sitting on the couch is more fun than cleaning.
- 6:46Speaker 3: And that's why when you get frustrated your kids, they're
- 6:48Speaker 3: staring at the TV and they don't want to do
- 6:50Speaker 3: the jobs you've asked them. Even though it has a
- 6:52Speaker 3: money value to it, the currency no longer is enough
- 6:56Speaker 3: to get them out the door.
- 6:58Speaker 1: We both agreed that we would not pay our children
- 7:00Speaker 1: to get a's. This is a contentious one. So many
- 7:02Speaker 1: parents pay their kids bonus if they get a's on
- 7:05Speaker 1: their report card, a's and their exams. We don't do this,
- 7:09Speaker 1: and the central reason is that we want our children
- 7:12Speaker 1: to learn, because learning is great. And apart from that,
- 7:15Speaker 1: there's a stick in the carrot. That is, if you
- 7:18Speaker 1: don't get the A, you actually feel like you've been punished.
- 7:21Speaker 1: It's true that you can have some valuable conversations with
- 7:23Speaker 1: the kids and they can maybe become more motivated to
- 7:26Speaker 1: get the cash. But I don't want my kids to
- 7:28Speaker 1: be learning because it's about dollars. I want them to
- 7:30Speaker 1: be learning because learning is great. We disagreed on whether
- 7:34Speaker 1: or not we should increase pocket money automatically each year
- 7:36Speaker 1: on the birthday.
- 7:37Speaker 3: The reason I say no because it's not an automatic
- 7:41Speaker 3: We would sit down with our kids each year and
- 7:43Speaker 3: have a conversation with them.
- 7:45Speaker 1: He's say things to make But they always went up
- 7:47Speaker 1: on their birthdays.
- 7:48Speaker 3: No, they did, but it wasn't automatic because we talked
- 7:50Speaker 3: to them about it and we discussed with them what
- 7:53Speaker 3: they thought was a fair increase for them. So it
- 7:56Speaker 3: wasn't an automatic decision and wasn't arbitrary on our end.
- 8:00Speaker 3: There actually was some pretty heavy duty negotiations going on
- 8:04Speaker 3: in those conversations.
- 8:05Speaker 1: High stakes bidding for sheep farms. The last one that
- 8:08Speaker 1: we did both agree on should we require our kids
- 8:10Speaker 1: to save a percentage of their pocket money. We have
- 8:12Speaker 1: three SSA's that explain what we encourage our kids to
- 8:15Speaker 1: do with their pocket money.
- 8:17Speaker 3: Spend, save, and support.
- 8:19Speaker 1: So spend is obviously have fun with this kids, like
- 8:22Speaker 1: filly boots to whatever you want. Save.
- 8:24Speaker 3: We're saving for the future.
- 8:26Speaker 1: Yep, it might be a car, it might be we're
- 8:28Speaker 1: going to the Echa or the Royal Show or whatever
- 8:31Speaker 1: it is that you call it in your hometown or city.
- 8:34Speaker 1: Or we're going on a holiday as a family leader
- 8:36Speaker 1: in the year, and you're going to want spending money
- 8:38Speaker 1: because we're on the Gold Coast and you can go
- 8:39Speaker 1: to the theme parks. And then support is pick.
- 8:43Speaker 3: A charity, help them to recognize that there are other
- 8:47Speaker 3: people who are less fortunate than themselves and that they
- 8:50Speaker 3: can give a small portion of what they're receiving to
- 8:56Speaker 3: bless and benefit others.
- 8:57Speaker 1: Yeah, so we normally encourage ten percent for charity and support,
- 9:01Speaker 1: and we pretty much would look at about fifty percent
- 9:04Speaker 1: for savings, especially for younger kids, because their expenses are
- 9:06Speaker 1: so low, and that would leave them with a round
- 9:08Speaker 1: about forty percent that they can will save a little
- 9:10Speaker 1: bit for something like a book or a toy that
- 9:13Speaker 1: matters to them, but also that they can fritter away
- 9:15Speaker 1: on the things that they want, like some lollies down
- 9:17Speaker 1: at the local shop or something like that.
- 9:19Speaker 3: So, because we chose such a high percentage for savings,
- 9:22Speaker 3: fifty percent, that's huge as far as a kid's concerned.
- 9:25Speaker 3: That actually impacted the amount that we were giving them
- 9:30Speaker 3: to start with. So we almost doubled what they would
- 9:33Speaker 3: normally get in order to save that percentage.
- 9:37Speaker 1: Yeah, we really wanted them to learn the excitement that
- 9:40Speaker 1: comes from seeing your bank balance go up. Yeah, kinds
- 9:42Speaker 1: of like.
- 9:43Speaker 3: A salary sacrifice kind of concept that they were learning,
- 9:46Speaker 3: you know, us three and four and five year olds.
- 9:48Speaker 1: Something else that we did, and I'll just mention it
- 9:49Speaker 1: quickly because we're out of time. We would set a
- 9:52Speaker 1: goal with the kids, so we'd say, this is how
- 9:54Speaker 1: much you could set aside, and this is how much
- 9:56Speaker 1: you'll end up with at the end of the month.
- 9:57Speaker 1: But if you set aside a little bit extra up
- 10:00Speaker 1: at this amount, and guess what, if you can reach that,
- 10:03Speaker 1: then we will bonus you. We'll give you that amount
- 10:06Speaker 1: as well. So let's say it was fifteen dollars extra
- 10:09Speaker 1: by saving really hard, we'd match that bonus fifteen dollars.
- 10:13Speaker 1: We wouldn't give them the whole level. We'd matched the
- 10:14Speaker 1: fifteen dollars. Kind of sentence broke, but it was really exciting.
- 10:18Speaker 1: The kids love the progress. Okay, we've changed the way
- 10:20Speaker 1: we do pocket money these days. After break, we're going
- 10:22Speaker 1: to tell you.
- 10:22Speaker 4: How today we're talking about pocket money and well things
- 10:32Speaker 4: have changed with six kids across now twenty five plus years.
- 10:37Speaker 1: We used to be really really big on how we
- 10:39Speaker 1: did pocket money and all of the things that we've
- 10:41Speaker 1: shared with you just now explain that. But we do
- 10:43Speaker 1: things differently with our last couple of kids who are
- 10:46Speaker 1: still young enough to receive pocket money. Let's walk you
- 10:50Speaker 1: through that fairly quickly.
- 10:51Speaker 3: So previously we would sit down with them once a
- 10:53Speaker 3: week with their own pocket money budgeting.
- 10:56Speaker 1: Book, every Sunday morning or Sunday night, and they would.
- 10:59Speaker 3: Have the three categories listed and what the breakdown was
- 11:03Speaker 3: as you would in a normal household budget. They would
- 11:06Speaker 3: then have a graph that would actually show that they
- 11:08Speaker 3: could mark or for every dollar they saved or every
- 11:11Speaker 3: two dollars depending on their age group.
- 11:13Speaker 1: Literally watching their progress, yes.
- 11:15Speaker 3: So they could actually see it. And then the other
- 11:18Speaker 3: reason that the stretch goal was so important was because
- 11:21Speaker 3: sometimes they had no need to spend their money, but
- 11:24Speaker 3: then it would sit there and it would pile up,
- 11:26Speaker 3: and then they'd go to the shops and they'd just
- 11:28Speaker 3: fritter it away because they had it. And so we
- 11:31Speaker 3: brought in the stretch goal because it was like, well,
- 11:33Speaker 3: you've got all this money left over let's add this
- 11:35Speaker 3: to the bank account, because that's going to get you
- 11:37Speaker 3: to your goal quicker. So on top of the monthly
- 11:40Speaker 3: stretch goal, there was a yearly stretch goal. It's really
- 11:43Speaker 3: important to break it down and have really small, achievable goals.
- 11:48Speaker 1: Sometimes.
- 11:49Speaker 3: I don't think it was complicated. I think they really
- 11:51Speaker 3: got excited. They did, and our big girls specifically have
- 11:55Speaker 3: got beautiful bank accounts as a result that. Let's just
- 11:58Speaker 3: be really clear. They were not allowed to touch, and
- 12:01Speaker 3: I'm not allowed to touch until they finish high school.
- 12:03Speaker 1: Yep, so we've gotten kind of lazy. We don't do
- 12:05Speaker 1: this at all with our younger kids. I wish we did.
- 12:07Speaker 1: We probably need to start it again, especially with Emily
- 12:09Speaker 1: because she's still only ten and there's a few years
- 12:11Speaker 1: of that. The other kids are big enough that they
- 12:13Speaker 1: can go and get a job if they choose to,
- 12:14Speaker 1: and so that becomes their issue. Another thing, we don't
- 12:18Speaker 1: pay the kids any extra pocket money once they get
- 12:20Speaker 1: to fifteen. It stays on a really small amount. So
- 12:23Speaker 1: if they want extra cash, they either go get a job,
- 12:25Speaker 1: or if it doesn't fit with their other goals and aspirations,
- 12:28Speaker 1: we give them extra work around the house. The kind
- 12:31Speaker 1: of stuff where if I don't want to do it,
- 12:33Speaker 1: I've probably got to pay someone to do it, Or
- 12:35Speaker 1: if you don't want to do it, we'd have to
- 12:36Speaker 1: pay someone. So the mowing of the lawn or even
- 12:39Speaker 1: the washing of the cars, that stuff that wouldn't fall
- 12:42Speaker 1: under normal family responsibilities for the kids, So we do
- 12:46Speaker 1: pay them a little bonus for that, and that's how
- 12:48Speaker 1: they can earn some extra cash. Last thing that I
- 12:51Speaker 1: want to highlight is the importance of regular money conversations.
- 12:54Speaker 1: The Psychology of Money by Morgan House or in fact,
- 12:56Speaker 1: every podcast I've ever listened to says if you want
- 12:58Speaker 1: your kids to be financially literally, you've got to talk
- 13:00Speaker 1: about finances a lot and help them to find other
- 13:03Speaker 1: resources and outlets to learn about money as well. I
- 13:06Speaker 1: found this and shadded in our recent Happy Families newsletter.
- 13:10Speaker 2: The number one strategy of the top hundred families in
- 13:12Speaker 2: the world. Yes, okay, it's teach your kids to create
- 13:15Speaker 2: value first, not money, because money is a store of value.
- 13:18Speaker 1: You have to go back to first principles.
- 13:20Speaker 2: If you focus on value creation, material value, what you
- 13:23Speaker 2: create and produce in the world solving problems. Financial reward
- 13:27Speaker 2: is the reward of that emotional value, good friendships, how
- 13:30Speaker 2: you think, how you feel, spiritual value, how you love,
- 13:33Speaker 2: how you live mindset, lifting me, lifting you up above
- 13:37Speaker 2: your issues to a higher calling to God, getting out
- 13:39Speaker 2: of your ego, and like, that's spiritual value. Yes, So
- 13:42Speaker 2: if we can teach our children, hey, we're going to
- 13:44Speaker 2: be value hunters in this whole, that is the number
- 13:46Speaker 2: one greatest asset you could ever give them. It's an
- 13:49Speaker 2: unfair advantage for the rest of their life.
- 13:51Speaker 1: So I love this because it highlights that money is
- 13:55Speaker 1: just a store of value, and the conversation really should
- 13:58Speaker 1: move away from money to how am I adding value
- 14:00Speaker 1: in the world, Because the more I add value, the
- 14:02Speaker 1: more things will actually come to me. Not that I'm
- 14:04Speaker 1: trying to do it transactionally because I want things. I mean.
- 14:06Speaker 1: He talks about emotions and that brings better friendships. He
- 14:10Speaker 1: talks about spiritual value and how that lifts you to
- 14:12Speaker 1: a higher plan and you can serve others and lift
- 14:14Speaker 1: others as well. And the financial aspect of it is there.
- 14:17Speaker 1: The regular conversations about money probably matter more than anything
- 14:21Speaker 1: else we've discussed today in terms of the mechanics of
- 14:24Speaker 1: pocket money.
- 14:26Speaker 3: Over the years our conversations around money. The way we
- 14:30Speaker 3: choose to remunerate the children has changed so much, But
- 14:36Speaker 3: ultimately the most important part of everything that we've done
- 14:41Speaker 3: is having those conversations with your kids, teaching them what
- 14:45Speaker 3: it means to be financially literate, helping them to save
- 14:50Speaker 3: for the future and delay gratification and support and help
- 14:56Speaker 3: others and add value to the world.
- 14:59Speaker 1: Yeah, couldn't have said it better myself. It's about value.
- 15:02Speaker 1: It's about having the conversations. I love that you're through
- 15:04Speaker 1: and delayed gratifications so important. The take home message is
- 15:09Speaker 1: have the conversations regularly. That's more important than anything else.
- 15:13Speaker 1: If you'd like to submit a tricky question, please send
- 15:16Speaker 1: us a voice note. Podcasts at happy families dot com
- 15:19Speaker 1: dot a you. The Happy Families podcast is produced by
- 15:22Speaker 1: Justin Rulan from Bridge Media. For more information and more
- 15:24Speaker 1: resources about making your family happy, visit us at happy
- 15:27Speaker 1: families dot com dot a you.