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Asher Bird spends just 12.5% of his earnings on rent and utilities each month.
He has an investment portfolio, money goals and a trusty financial planning diary.
But he’s not a millionaire – he’s a seven-year-old.
“I didn’t grow up with a whole lot of financial education and so going out into the real world, it was quite a shock and I really struggled,” says mum Samantha Bird, 31, from the US state of Michigan.
“I wanted to give my kids a little bit of a head start in a way that was safe and in an environment that was lighthearted.”
That’s why she began charging Asher and his brothers, Jonah, eight, and Simon, 10, $3 a month for expenses.
Each of her children is paid $6 a week for chores and encouraged to fill out a monthly planner to budget for bills day.
“I’ve noticed a real sense of confidence in my kids with money,” says Bird, who runs Kid’s Money Skills, a social media channel educating parents on how to teach their children about their finances.
“I learned when the stakes were very high, and it took me a long time to dig out of it.”
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She and her husband, Seth, found themselves $40,000 in debt in 2019, accrued by mismanaging monthly expenses and making credit card payments.
She spent a “tough two years” living on a sparse budget and “learning everything I could about money” from free books in the local library before balancing her own in 2021.
“Now I need to make sure this doesn’t happen with my kids,” she says.
Charging adult children rent
While Bird’s pocket money system is rare, many parents begin to charge their children rent when they get their first job or turn 18, and often for the same reason – to teach them the value of money.
The UK is split on the practice – with 61% of parents saying they charge…
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