Technology helps children keep money in mind

Published on Tuesday 17 February 2009 20:57

REALITY TV voting, mobile phones and internet shopping have led to a generation of British children being financially aware before they start secondary school, research has found.

Children as young as seven now offer to do chores in exchange for cash to buy ringtones, while eight is the average age for a child to get their first mobile phone.

By the age of ten, youngsters are shopping online, using their parents' debit or credit cards.

The research, by the education charity PFEG (Personal Finance Education Group), found average pocket money is 6.32, compared with the 3.77 a week their parents got and the 2.38 given to their grandparents.

The snapshot reveals the extent to which children's spending power has grown in recent years. It found that 40 per cent of children aged between seven and 15 have bought ringtones and games for their mobiles phone and a quarter of them have voted in reality TV competitions.

Three-quarters of all children surveyed for the snapshot owned at least one mobile phone, and at the age of eight, more than a third have a mobile.

A third of children have used the internet to buy computer games, compared with nearly a fifth who have bought books online.

Wendy van den Hende, the chief executive of PFEG, said: "Children today face a kind of 'technological tipping point' forcing them to develop financial awareness at an earlier age."