Children have been spending millions of dollars. According to "Zillions Consumer Reports", for every dollar children earned they spent $ .79 or 79% of it. This raised several questions. Where do children get their money? What do they spend their money on? Do children think about how they spend their money? Do any children save money?

There were various ways children received money. Some received money as a gift for a special occasion like Christmas or a birthday. A basic allowance was given to many children with an option to do extra chores for extra money during the week. The third way of getting money was to do different jobs. The main winter job was shoveling snow. Summer jobs involved working for parents and neighbors doing yard work, car washing, baby sitting, and cleaning.

Through the years, children's allowances have risen within two different age groups. The allowances for the ages of 9-10 have increased from $2.00 to $3.00 and the extra cash received through gifts or extra chores has increased from $5.00 to $7.00 a week. However, the allowances for 11-14 year olds remained at $5.00 which was recorded from 1993 and 1995 surveys. The only change was in the 11-12 year age group. There was a $3.00 increase in earning extra cash. They earned $10.00 in 1993 and it increased to $13.00 by 1995. It was a three dollar increase in two years. The 13-14 year old age group earned $20.00, the same amount of money in 1993 and 1995.

ALLOWANCES Data Taken from Zillions Magazines		HOW CHILDREN EARN MONEY WEEKLY Data Taken from Zillions Magazines
AGES WEEKLY ALLOWANCE TOTAL OVERALL MONEY EARNED A WEEK 9-10 $3.00 $7.00 11-12 $5.00 $13.00 13-14 $5.00 $20.00		Amount Earned Employment $1.00 Pet Care $1.00 Plant Care $1.00 Clean Room $2.00 Baby Sitting $2.00 Yard Work $3.00 Car Wash $5.00 Lawn Mowing

Children have been spending $ .79 out of every dollar they received, or 79%. What were they spending their money on? According to Zillions Consumer Reports, Jan/Feb. 1998, Children have been spending an average of $5.00 a week on snacks. If they had saved this amount of money per week for five years, they would have had a total of $1,300. But children also had other things they bought besides food. They also spent money on clothes, books, magazines, toys, gifts, games, music, sneakers, and grooming products.

Some children saved money for a specific reason, and by saving it earned a little extra money in interest. For example, if a person put money in a savings account, the money could be withdrawn at any time with no penalty charges. That person would earn about 4% interest on the money and would have had more money to spend.

If a child does not need the money right away, there are ways to earn more interest. A CD (Certificate of Deposit) is like a mini savings account. You can earn 5.5% to 7.2% interest each year. You can't withdraw or add any more money to the CD for one year or the length of the term. If the bank files for bankruptcy, the government will pay the value of the CD. A CD requires a person not to withdraw the money for a specific period of time which could be a year or longer. The length of time a peron's money remains in the CD depends upon the type of CD a person buys.

There are some ways of saving that are at a higher risk than a savings account or a CD, and the government does not insure the value of the investment. If a person wants to put money into the stock market, there is a big risk of losing the money invested. You can also earn higher amounts of profit if the stock market rises. Profits may range from 0% to 20%, or even higher with high risk stocks. Mutual funds invest in stocks, but the money is spread out with many company stocks. If one company does poorly, the other companies may still make a profit. The investor does not lose a lot of profit on his or her money. The profitable companies balance out the loss. Stocks and mutual companies are a risky investment compared to CDs and savings accounts. Each person needs to decide which way is the best way to save money.

The choice of how to save money depends upon how a person chooses to use the money in the future. Some may save for college which is a long time away. A long term CD or savings account might be the choice for saving, but the amount of interest would be low. If a person wants to save for a short time to purchase a bike, then a savings account keeps the money out of sight, earns some interest, and can be withdrawn easily when the person has saved enough money. When the money is being saved, it prevents the person from buying small things like candy, music, and other things that quickly use up the money.

Children need to learn how to control the spending of their money they have received or earned. There are benefits to controlling the spending and the saving of money. Children would benefit from learning how to buy selectively, buy items that last longer, and earn interest on the money they receive. This would give them more money to spend in the future.