Chloe has a teenage son who’s about to finish school. She wants to know whether it’s too early to start charging him board, as he still lives at home.
Chloe wants her son to appreciate how much the cost of living is by contributing to the running of the household. At the same time she doesn’t want to burden him too early while he’s still finding his feet after finishing school.
He currently earns around $200 a week in a part time job, and he’s not yet sure whether he’ll start working or do further study yet.
Chloe is aware that her son should be given a chance to save for the future, particularly if he wants to do Uni, or start saving for a car which he’ll need to get to and from work. At the same time Chloe wants her son to become independent, and learn that life isn't a free ride.
But when’s the right time to confront your kids with this reality and charge them board – and how much should you charge?
DISCUSSION POINTS:
- When is the right age to start charging board? In high school? After high school? When they get their first part-time job, when they enter the workforce full-time, or not at all?
- How do you strike a balance between wanting your kids to save some money…but also wanting them to learn financial responsibility?
- What did your parents arrange with you?
- What arrangement did you come up with for your kids?
Comments (1)
When is the right age? Depends on financial situation of child - if recieving YouthAllowance from government in high school I think it is fair that they contribute to costs of running the house (when I was at school plenty of my friends who recieved YouthAllowance were allowed to spend it how they pleased... and most spent it on clothes and movies and CDs and etc etc etc... not saving it!). It would of course depend on your child and their maturity.
Once child has a source of income after school (part or full time) then again, charging board would be fair. Once graduated from school I think it's particularly important for them to be exposed to the cost of living! If they plan to move out it will cost them more and it may encourage them to be more active in household planning/more accepting of cost saving meassures. Barter can also work well - charge less board if do more household chores (that is, more over and above the baseline of being a considerate occupant!).
As for saving - with no restrictions the majority of school leavers would do the same as the high school YouthAllowance recipients - spend spend spend! Maybe an alternative to board could be an 'enforced' savings plan - either pay $X board per week... or pay same amount into savings account where money cannot be accessed.
My parents asked for board when we had finished school (we didn't recieve YouthAllowance at all) AND had a stable job with the amount of board matched to our income (if part time job paying low wage then board was minimal but if full time job and decent wage then board was increased appropriately).
Posted by Melinda | November 11, 2007 9:31 PM
Posted on November 11, 2007 21:31