Should An Adult Have An Allowance

March 26, 2012 by staff

Should An Adult Have An Allowance, Many families teach children about money management and responsibility by offering them an allowance but what about adults, should they have one too?

An allowance (for those of privilege reading) is not an imaginary thing but rather a pre-set small sum of money a child receives regularly to spend on new toys, clothes, books or whatever. It could be a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly payment depending on how the parents set it up. Think of it as a trust fund, without the fund or all those extra zeros.

Allowances teach children to save and plan for purchases and form the foundation of a valuable life skill, one that many adults really need.

Adult Americans are burdened with debt and collectively show a much greater ability to spend than save. It’s estimated that over 40% of American families spend more than they earn and nearly 50% have less than $10,000 in retirement savings.

These two points alone say just about all there is to say about adults needing an allowance. In fact, your six-year old is probably better at saving money than you. “There are only two ways to balance a budget: spend less or make more”