“Pocket money is negotiated fresh every week, from memory, and nobody agrees what was actually done.”
In the guide: The guide gives you a rate card by age and a one-page agreement, so the number is written down once.
Free guide · 30 pages · UK figures, dated and sourced
How much pocket money, and what it should actually teach
A 30-page guide for parents and carers of 5 to 12 year olds. How much by age, chores or not, weekly or monthly, what to do when it runs out, and the conversations that work. Written for the UK, with every figure dated.
30 pages, printableA rate card by ageEvery figure dated and sourced
Done.
The link is on its way to . Gmail will probably file it under Promotions, which is fair. If it is not in your inbox in five minutes, check Promotions, then junk, then email [email protected].
The first email of the series comes in a couple of days.
While you wait: five questions for five nights
- What do you think this meal cost?
- If you had earned £10 this week, what would you do with it?
- What is the last thing you bought that you wish you had not?
- What do you think I pay for emptying the dishwasher?
- If you saved everything for a month, what could you buy?
Ask one a night, then listen. The guide says what to listen for in each answer.
Built on: the Money and Pensions Service, GOV.UK, UK Finance, Ofcom, the Gambling Commission, the Charities Aid Foundation, and peer-reviewed research on rewards and motivation.
Sound familiar?
“The chart on the fridge lasted nine days.”
In the guide: The guide explains why routines collapse, which is usually one adult holding the whole thing, and what to move out of your head.
“They want a £40 thing and have no idea what it took to earn.”
In the guide: The guide's one question, "how many of your jobs is that?", and the chapters on saving, spending and running out.
Fewer than half of UK children, 47 per cent in 2022, had what the Money and Pensions Service defines as a meaningful financial education: useful lessons at school, or regular money at home with rules and responsibility for spending it. Only one in ten had both, and that group managed money best. The guide is the home half.
Source: Money and Pensions Service, UK Children and Young People's Financial Wellbeing Survey, 4,740 children aged 7 to 17, 2022.
What is inside
13 chapters, worked examples with real numbers, and the printable sheets at the back.
- What pocket money is forThe three jobs it does, and the one it cannot
- How muchThree methods, the rate card by age, worked examples, the review date
- Linked to chores, or notWhat the research on rewards says, and the design that avoids the trap
- Weekly or monthly, cash or digitalBy age; making invisible money visible
- Spend, save, giveThe three jars and how to split them
- Saving for somethingGoals, the wait, matching, and the marshmallow myth
- Spending and regretFirst purchases, in-game money, scams
- When it runs outNo bailouts, and what to say instead
- The rules of the houseA written agreement, siblings, bonuses, redos
- Conversations by ageScripts for 5 to 8, 9 to 11 and 12 plus
- Money across two homesConsistency and one record
- What school covers, and whenThe curriculum now and from 2028
- The toolkitRate card, house agreement, review worksheet, conversation cards, and how Morechard fits
The toolkit at the back: the house agreement, the rate review worksheet, five questions for five nights, and a chapter-by-chapter map of what Morechard does.
Why this guide
Written for the UK, and dated
Every figure comes from GOV.UK, the Money and Pensions Service, UK Finance, Ofcom or another named UK source, with the year beside it and a sources page at the back. Where a figure will go out of date, the guide says so.
Honest about the research
It tells you where the popular version is wrong: the marshmallow test, the "Harvard chores study" (it is a Minnesota study of 84 children), and "money habits are set by seven". It also takes the best evidence against paying children for chores seriously, then shows the design that avoids the trap.
Practical
Worked examples with real numbers, scripts for the conversation at each age, and printable sheets: a house agreement, a rate review worksheet and five questions for five nights.
No averages, no sales pitch
It does not quote a national pocket money average, because an average is the wrong tool. It recommends no bank, account or app. Where Morechard is mentioned, it is in clearly marked notes you can skip.
Who it is for, and who it is not
This guide is for you if
- You have a child aged 5 to 12 and no system yet, or one that has stopped working.
- You argue about what was done and what it is worth, usually on a Sunday night.
- You want your child to learn something from the money, not just receive it.
- You would rather have the evidence and the options than one person's rule.
It is not the right guide for
- A teenager with a first job, tax and a bank account. The teenage guide covers that.
- What other families pay. The guide gives you a way to price the job instead.
- A product comparison, or a recommendation of where to put the money.
Who wrote it
What this guide will not do
- It will not tell you what other families pay.
- It will not recommend a product, a bank or an account.
- It will not replace a conversation with your child. It gives you the questions to start one.
Questions
Is it really free?
Yes. We ask for an email so we can send the link. Whether you also get our short email series afterwards is your choice on the form, and you can stop it with one click.
What exactly will you email me?
The link to the guide. If you said yes to the series, about one email a fortnight on children and money. Nothing else. We use Brevo to send email, and we never sell your address or share it for anyone else's use.
Is this financial advice?
No. It is general information for parents and carers, and says so wherever it could be mistaken for advice.
Do I need the Morechard app?
No. The guide works on paper and says where paper tends to run out.
Can I print it or share it?
Yes. You are welcome to print it and share it with other parents and carers, whole and unaltered. Please do not sell it or change it.
Which guide do I need?
This one is for children aged 5 to 12. For 13 to 17, there is a separate guide on first jobs, tax, bank accounts and credit. Both, if your children span the ages. The Ultimate Guide to Teenage Financial Literacy.
Get the guide
Thirty pages, the rate card, and the sheets to print. Free, by email.
Done.
The link is on its way to . Gmail will probably file it under Promotions, which is fair. If it is not in your inbox in five minutes, check Promotions, then junk, then email [email protected].
The first email of the series comes in a couple of days.
