Kids’ income has fallen

The amount of money received each week by 11-14s has declined slightly in the last year from an average of £7.52 in 2008, to £7.25 today. Additional money received per year in the form of gifts or for specific things (from e.g. parents or grandparents) has also declined, from an average of £187 last year to £180 today.

More emphasis on saving

In terms of where income is going, in the last year kids have got more into saving. The proportion putting away £5 or more per week into savings has risen from 26% last year to 29% today. With shrinking incomes and greater saving, inevitably this has meant declines in spending on other things. On clothing & footwear, for example, only 18% spend £10 or more per week, compared to 21% last year.

So times are tight, but it wouldn’t be true to say that kids are spending less across the board. For example, the proportion spending at least £2 a week on crisps/sweets/chocolate has remained steady. Similarly, those spending £5 or more on hobbies has remained consistent, as has the percentage spending £2 or more a week on toys and games.

Kids increasingly cautious of debt and worried about money

Reflecting their falling income and increasing propensity to save, there has been a clear change in the attitudes of 11-14 year olds in Britain in the last year in relation to money. In 2008 Youth TGI showed that 29% of 11-14s were very worried about money. This has jumped to 31% today. However, this has by no means been influenced exclusively by the recent downturn, indeed it has been gradually growing over the last few years.  

This financial nervousness is reinforced by figures showing the proportion of 11-14s who like saving money has risen from 47% last year to 51% today. Anti-bank sentiment has also grown, and not just since last year. The proportion who feel that banks make it too easy for people to get into debt has grown from 54% in 2005 to 58% last year, to 60% today.

Perhaps sensing that the jobs of their parents are not as secure as they used to be, 26% of 11-14 year olds are worried about unemployment, up from 23% last year.

There’s a certain degree of pessimism amongst kids over longer term economic trends as well. 45% of 11-14 year olds feel that the divide between rich and poor will get worse. This has been creeping up from 40% in 2005.

Increasingly confident that they will be successful in the future, though not simply financially

Despite their economic pessimism, kids are pretty solidly optimistic about their own futures. 74% believe they will do well in the future, a figure which has risen from 70% in 2005. However, it’s not necessarily all about the money. Despite the impression sometimes given in the media of the shallowness of the young, fewer kids today want to be rich. In 2006 the proportion declaring that they want to be rich was 61%, down to 59% last year and 58% today.