“My seven -year -old child pays the rent”: should parents start to charge – and how much? | Money news Aitrend

Asher Bird spends only 12.5% of its profits on rent and public services each month.

He has an investment portfolio, money objectives and a faithful financial planning journal.

But it is not a millionaire – he is a seven -year -old child.

“I have not grown up with a lot of financial education and therefore to go out in the real world, it was a shock and I really had trouble,” said Maman Samantha Bird, 31, from the American state of Michigan.

“I wanted to give my children a little a bit ahead in a way that was safe and in a light environment.”

This is why she started to invoice Asher and her brothers, Jonah, eight years old, and Simon, 10, $ 3 per month for expenses.

Each of their children is paid $ 6 per week for chores and encouraged to fill a monthly planner for the budget of the invoice day.

“I have noticed a real feeling of confidence in my children with money,” explains Bird, who manages children’s money skills, a social media channel educating parents about how to teach their children their finances.

“I learned when the stakes were very high, and it took me a long time to find out more.”

Money blog: Latest personal finances and new consumers

She and her husband, Seth, met $ 40,000 in debt in 2019, accumulated by the poor quality of monthly expenses and making payments by credit card.

She spent a “two difficult years” to live with a sparse budget and to “learn everything I could on money” from free books in the local library before balanced hers in 2021.

“Now I have to make sure it doesn’t happen with my children,” she said.

Invoice the rent for adult children

While Bird’s pocket money system is rare, many parents are starting to charge their children’s rent when they get their first job or their turn 18, and often for the same reason – teach them the value of money.

The United Kingdom is divided on practice – with 61% of parents saying that they invoice their adult children the rent in a market survey in 2023.

About two of these in five parents said they had it to cover the bills.

Among those who can afford to choose, some have told Sky News that they “prefer to be on the street” than to ask for a contribution, while others said that it made their children more disciplined financially.

Carole Fossey, from Manchester.

Learn more about money:
Savings over 50 years old launched – should you go?
“ I won £ 500,000 for a race ”: inside the life and finances of a jockey
“ My brother -in -law must go – but I don’t want to be his guarantor ”

“He felt the same thing, but we have overcome this – although every time he sends it to me, he puts it on my bank account as” extortion “or” charity “,” she says.

Payment represents 15% of its income and 70% of what it costs the household.

“I think that this generation of children – and it is completely our fault to spoil them – sometimes has a little straight and expects that things were provided that I never expected when I was this age,” she said.

She wants to instill in Guillaume the duty to contribute to the house and encourage her to better manage her money.

The children of Steve Tailor, Sam, 29, and Jennifer, 27, both left his house in the Wiltshire with a cautious approach to money, which he has been in charge of the rent for 17 years.

“We have friends who did not do it and who wish to have done it because their children get their salary on Friday and on Sunday, he disappeared from new clothes,” said the 56 -year -old man.

The rent was taken at £ 20 per week when they worked part -time and £ 50 when they worked full time. They were “on the moon” when Tailor revealed that he had secretly saved money – about £ 4,000 – for their house deposits.

But others have a very different vision.

“I prefer to be on the street to invoice my children the rent,” explains Emma Lemon.

Her son, 27, lives with his rent without rent while he saves for a master’s degree – and she offered a place to her friend while they are looking for a job.

“We do not always give (children) enough credit. They are at least as sensitive, if not more, as most of their parents. They are very warned and aware of what things cost and the value of money. ”

How to talk about rent

Parents must balance the income, education and ability of their child to move, explains parental coach Olivia Edwards, 35, from Leicester.

It is important to consider the cost of the accommodation and avoid making children impossible for leaving, it says: “It is really difficult to sail in this change in the relationship.”

If the parents will use the rent to teach their children for money, she says, it is better to start early – just like Asher, seven years old.

Define the foundations to invoice the rent by introducing conditional pocket money-but do not only use you as a bridge pot, she says.

With regard to the introduction of rent, parents must be aware that they are modifying the expectations of their relationship with their child, which must be done with care.

“Suddenly, the parent-child relationship has conditions attached to it,” she said.

“Having an open conversation around an angle of curiosity would be the best way to protect your relationship with them. I would not lead with finances. I would generally ask what ways to think that they can contribute. ”

Once the money has come, good communication from your financial situation and where they integrate in this area, explains Citron, a clinical psychologist consultant and approved member of the British Psychological Society.

“Always give them the benefit of the doubt. Do not live with underlying hypotheses that they are lazy and without goodage. It’s not okay. Suppose they are reflected. “

She adds: “I think that young people often find it difficult to find work. Things are difficult. Their mental health may not be great.

“So you have to make sure you are in contact with these things as a parent and do not assume the worst of them all the time, which I think that a significant proportion of parents made.”