Swedish parents increase the allowance slowly and teach the kids to buy something for themselves. So even a six-year-old in Sweden has a bank card and well… knows when to stop spending
Weekends are meant to be fun. Plans start for the next one even before one ends as studies and work are pushed aside for excursions, family time and lots more, the world over.
But things are decidedly different for Swedish children. This is the time that parents seek out to make their children understand the value of money. The importance of saving is taught to them by giving them money that they keep for spending on what they like most – sweets! So Stockholm’s Liljeholmen square is crowded with children eager to buy sweets crowding the place. Seven out of 10 Swedish children currently get a weekly or monthly allowance, according to 2020 data shared by Swedbank, one of the country’s high-street banks.
Swedish parents increase the allowance slowly and teach the kids to buy something for themselves. So even a six-year-old in Sweden has a bank card and well… knows when to stop spending
The concept dates to the 1950s, and a once-a-week treat also fights tooth decay. So financial planning starts early as an eight-year-old is made to save for sweets. The children in Sweden look forward to buying only as much as the allowance permits for the week and then they wait patiently for the next weekend.
Swedbank’s research suggests the average weekly pocket money for a seven-year-old in Sweden is 20 kronor and rises to 500 kronor a month at the age of 15. After all this is the age for friends, clothes or other recreational activities like going to restaurants or to the movies. Healthy saving habits and financial responsibility go together in this country and most surprising of all is the fact that seven out of 10 parents surveyed by Swedbank said that the tutoring was so strict and complete that many were even able to save part of the allowance.
Swedish parents increase the allowance slowly and teach the kids to buy something for themselves. So even a six-year-old in Sweden has a bank card and well… knows when to stop spending.
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