Making Allowances

“Around the 1920s, a certain class of parents—those with enough money to indulge their kids from time to time—started to panic. Toy companies and trinket manufacturers were buffeting kids with ads, and children were pestering their parents for gifts. Many parents wanted their kids to have these new luxuries, but they also wanted them to understand that money had limits. Parenting magazines suggested an intervention: small weekly payments, called allowances, that kids could squirrel away and use to buy toys or other treats on their own.” Cut to today. “As credit cards, digital investment tools, and ‘buy now, pay later’ apps have proliferated, some parents (especially wealthier ones) are using the payments to introduce their kids to more complex aspects of the financial ecosystem: bank fees, interest rates, investing, credit scores, loan payments.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): The New Allowance.