Teach money and responsibility.
Money-Ready Kid
Build your child's money habits before money becomes a problem.
What it covers In development
Money
How much should my child get, and what should it teach?
Allowance, chores, saving, and the cost of raising a child. What the numbers actually are, and what to do with them.
Questions we have answered
How much allowance should my child get?
A common starting point is 50 cents to a dollar per year of age, each week. That puts a 10-year-old somewhere between $5 and $10 a week. But the amount matters less than what you d…
Read the answer →Should kids get paid for chores?
Mostly no, for everyday chores. Tidying up after yourself, clearing the table, and keeping your own room are part of being in a household, and paying for them tends to make childre…
Read the answer →How much does it cost to raise a child?
The figure most often quoted is about $233,600 from birth to age 17, from the USDA, for a middle-income married-couple family with a child born in 2015, excluding college. Adjusted…
Read the answer →Coming to this section
Written and sourced properly, or not at all. These are the questions queued next.
- How should my child divide their money? Not written yet
- When should my child get a bank account? Not written yet
Calculators for money
Cost of raising a child
Estimate what raising your child costs from birth to eighteen, broken down by category and year.
Daycare vs stay at home
Compare the true cost of paid childcare against one parent leaving work, including the costs most comparisons miss.
Diaper cost
Work out what diapers will cost you per week, per month, and until potty training.
Formula vs breastfeeding
Compare the first-year cost of formula feeding, breastfeeding, and a combination of both.
Family grocery budget
Find a realistic monthly grocery budget for your family size and ages.
Allowance by age
Find a defensible weekly allowance for your child age, and see how to split it between spending and saving.
Family road trip cost
Estimate fuel, food, and lodging for a family road trip before you commit to it.
Stay-at-home parent salary
Put a market value on the work a stay-at-home parent does, role by role.