Results of a poll of more than 1,400 people, on behalf of personal finance pfeg, show that British children are more financially aware than their parents were at their age.

It showed that even 10 year olds were using their parent’s debit or credit cards to make purchases on-line. The average age for owning their first mobile phone is just eight and their weekly pocket money now averages 6 pounds and 32 pence.
Contrast this to their parents, who received the equivalent of 3 pounds and 77 pence, but weren’t expected to help out with household chores until they were ten or older.

It seems that today’s youngsters are realising a few facts about the value of money, with seven year olds offering to carry out chores to earn pocket money.

They’re fully conversant with the internet and two out of five children between the ages of seven and 15 were likely to use it to buy computer games, music or books. 40 per cent had bought games and ringtones for their mobiles.

The online survey, carried out by Populus in January, involved 1,435 people, including 546 children aged seven to 15, 676 parents and 759 grandparents in England, Wales and Scotland.

It seems that making financial decisions helps some children to feel more in control of their lives and it’s felt that this will help them to be more responsible with their money and better at managing their finances as they reach the age where it matters and before they get credit cards of their own.