Dads pay their kids nearly $10 a week more pocket money than mums
Key takeaways
- Dads pay their kids an average of $26.58 a week in pocket money, compared to $16.79 a week from mums – a gap of nearly $10 a week
- 73% of kids receive pocket money: 42% earn it through chores, while 30% get it unconditionally
- In the last year, 28% of kids got a pocket money pay rise and 9% got less; 63% stayed the same
Finder's 2026 Parenting Report reveals a gender gap in parental pocket-money habits, not just in how much kids earn, but in who's paying it.
Aussie dads are significantly more generous with pocket money than mums, according to Finder's 2026 Parenting Report. Dads pay an average of $26.58 a week, compared to $16.79 from mums, a gap of almost $10 a week, or more than $500 a year.
The report, which surveyed 1,008 parents of children aged 12 and under, found that overall, Australian kids earn an average of $21.59 a week in pocket money (or $1,123 a year).
Around 3 in 4 kids receiving some form of pocket money, and of those, 43% earn it by doing chores.
The gap between parents and how much they pay echoes a smaller one found between kids themselves: our research shows that boys collect slightly more pocket money on average than girls each week, at $21.70 vs $21.40.
As for the pocket money system itself, there's a few ways you can approach.
I'm a huge believer in whatever adds the least mental load for parents!
So, whether it's a sticker chart, a pocket money app or a direct debit into their bank account, in my view the best system is the one you'll actually stick to.
The goal is to plant the seeds of curiosity and confidence around money, and as their pot of money grows, help them make it work for them.
Teaching kids how to grow their money by parking it in a high interest savings account designed for kids can be a powerful way to shape how they interact with money in the future.
Compare kids' bank accounts
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