allowances posts

When it comes to allowances, kids and parents alike believe "everybody's doing it," ... everybody except them. The truth is, however, while some families do have their progeny paydays in order, most of us don't. We all want to teach our kids how to be financially savvy and responsible, but somewhere between good intentions and real life, the wheels fall off the bus and allowances get stuck in the breakdown lane.

In fact, a study by Canadian marketing and social survey research consultancy, Environics Research Group, reported only 41% of parents provide allowances.

Judging from an informal poll of Facebook friends and colleagues, that sounds about right, however, the absence of allowances doesn't mean parents don't like the idea.

"I had to give up on allowances," wrote mother of two, Suparna Mhaskar Lundquist on Facebook, "It got to the point where I was nagging more than it was worth." Gigi Green wrote that her plan was, "In theory, $10 dollars a week for chores: picking up dog poop (three dogs) daily, empty dishwasher, feed dogs, clean room, put clean clothes away ... In reality: none of the above." While Kim Petersen wrote, "It's all a mystery to me."

If you like the simplicity of Amazon's One Click purchases, then you may fall in love with the new Amazon PayPhrase service that just launched.

PayPhrase lets you create a phrase associated with your Amazon account and complete purchases at Amazon and partner stores like DKNY, Jockey, Buy.com and more with an easy to remember phrase, like "WalletPop Rocks." The phrase must be used in conjunction with a PIN number.

The new PayPhrase service doesn't just remove your need to remember a username and password; it offers some other handy features as well.

• Privacy: You don't have to share your credit card with other Web sites.
• Control: You can set up a phrase to be associated with a specific address and credit card.
• Allowances: Set allowances or spending limits on a specific phrase for your teen.

The ability to tie a specific payment method and address to a catchphrase is really nifty and should make keeping personal purchases separate from work or small business purchases which would go on a different card.

But, there may be a use to Amazon's PayPhrase that can help you control your spending, or at least shame you for it.

One of the building blocks of personal finance for me came from my early exposure to money management at home through earning an allowance. Deciding what method to use in order to give your children an allowance which both educates them and enables them to buy stuff for themselves can be complicated. The author of Fivecentnickel shares an intriguing method which he uses in his house of four. His system for allowances revolves around allocating the allowance to several locations such as spending, long term saving and charity.

They recently revamped the system moving to distributing the allowance once a month to ease the distribution between purposes and to re-enforce the need to budget to their kids. The allowance system they use bases the weekly amount on how old the kid is. Even though it isn't stated, I am going to assume that with age comes more responsibility. The kids can even get a dollar for dollar match by moving money from spending into their kiddie IRA.

The Olsen Twins were once the world's nations wealthiest kids but it seems that title has been handed over to none other than Miley Cyrus. PEOPLE magazine has reported that Disney's singing and acting sensation and her Hannah Montana brand are slated to bring in $1 billion by the end of the year. (Not bad for 15-years-old) And, while not a billion, other child stars, like the Jonas Brothers, Dakota Fanning, and Abigail Breslin are bringing in multi-millions each year.

This made me wonder what average kids are doing with their money and how much they get in the first place. I headed out on the streets of New York City to find out and it seems that New York's youth are spending the majority of money they receive on their sweet tooth cravings. Many said that they spend their allowances on candy, and sometimes toys and clothes.

These kids, who generally earn their dough by doing chores around the house, bring in a range of dollar amounts: anywhere between $7 and $40 a week. While Miley Cyrus says that she would like to purchase a vintage Corvette with all her cash and the Jonas brothers bought new computers with theirs, the kids on the street said that if they had that kind of money they would consider doing something else with it.

If you got a large tax refund this year or you owed a lot of money, you are probably not having the proper amount withheld from your paychecks. Each tax situation is different, so this is not the case for everyone. But for the typical family, with one or two paychecks, a couple of children, and a home, this is likely the case.

Why do you want to correct the withholding? Well if you owed a lot of money, the answer is obvious. It's much less painful to have the government take the taxes out of your check little by little, than to have to write a large check in March or April.

If you get a big refund, you'll also want to correct your withholding. If you got a big refund, it means the government was taking too much money out of each paycheck, and they got to use your money all year without paying you any interest. You should lower your withholding amount to keep more of your money throughout the year. You could put that money to work for you all year long, earning some interest or paying down some debt.

How do you correct your withholding so that you have more or less withheld next year? Ask your employer for a new W-4 form, and at the same time, ask your employer how many allowances you have been claiming. If you need more withheld from your paycheck, claim fewer allowances than you did last year. If you need less withheld from your paycheck, claim more allowances than you did last year. Have someone from the payroll department or your tax preparation service help you, if necessary

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.