The Children's Mutual Launches New Pocket Money Site To Help Families
Released
on: January 13, 2010, 5:08 am
Author: The Children's Mutual
Industry: Financial
According to new research from The Children's Mutual, the old
saying that good manners cost nothing is not strictly true, as 44% of
children are now financially rewarded for good behaviour.
Award winning Child Trust Fund Provider, The Children's Mutual, has revealed that
as well as good behaviour, parents are also offering an 'honest wage' for a hard
day's work. 37% of children 'earn' their pocket money by helping out with chores
around the home and 19% fill their piggy banks by helping out with the family pet.
As the Government announces plans to make financial education compulsory for
children as young as five from 2012, leading Child Trust Fund provider The
Children's Mutual has launched a new Pocket Money Petz microsite which has been created to help
parents teach their children about pocket money and
saving.
Children can choose a 'virtual' pet, from a dog to a dinosaur, to help them learn
to boost, manage and save their pocket money earnings, and while children have fun
deciding which character to accompany them through PocketMoneyPetz, their parents
can put a value against each chore to help them learn the value of money.
Tony Anderson, Marketing Director at The Children's Mutual, said: "As children are receiving more and
more pocket money in return for undertaking household chores, helping with the
family pet and their good behaviour, we created Pocket Money Petz to help spark
their imaginations about earning and saving money."
According to The Children's Mutual research, the going rate for pocket money has
increased by a whopping 83% in a single generation from when their parents received
pocket money until today. Parents are already giving an average of £2.85 a week to
their child, with many (27%) parents expecting to increase this amount by £1 each
year.
However, despite the rise in pocket money, The Children's Mutual research showed
that parents are often unsure of how much to 'pay' their children and can feel
pressurised to compete with how much other parents give. Nearly one in five (18%)
said there was pressure to conform to a 'market rate' and 16% said they feel they
pay too much but 'have to go with what everyone gets'. In response to these
concerns, The Children's Mutual has also created a Parents' Pocket Money Guide
which offers advice on teaching children about money, how to give pocket money, when
to start and how much to give and how often.
Children also have their own user-friendly Pocket Money Guide which helps them to
understand where money comes from, how to budget, keeping money safe, and ways of
saving for the items they want. The colourful guide also comes with ready
reckoners and games to help children become more familiar and used to dealing with
money.
- Ends -
Notes to editors:
Research undertaken by 72 Point on behalf of The Children's Mutual. 2070
respondents were polled.
About The Children's Mutual - Home of the Child Trust Fund
The Children's Mutual's mission is to help parents, grandparents, family and
friends fulfil their hopes for today's children. The Children's Mutual is the only
UK company that specialises in long term savings for children and is now the choice
of 1 in 4 parents for their child's Child Trust Fund, with more than 750,000 CTF accounts. This expertise has led several financial institutions and family-focused high
street retailers to choose The Children's Mutual as their stakeholder Child Trust
Fund provider.
The Children's Mutual PR contact:
Katie Donlan
Consolidated PR
22 Endell Street
London
WC2H 9AD
020 7781 2376
2012
