Question of the Month: Money Sense

  My daughter turns thirteen this week and for me, it's pretty scary to think I'm the mom of a teenager. She's generally a pretty good kid and has a good head on her shoulders but it seems that with a growing sense of self, my daughter also has a growing sense of the "gimmies."

At the beginning of the school year, I decided that we would start an allowance. Instead of a weekly allowance, however, we went for a lump sum at the beginning of each month. That way, I figured, she'd be able to budget her money throughout the month and start to learn a sense of money management. It's been working pretty well so far and when we're out, and those gimmies strike, I get to tell her that she can absolutely buy that brand new X, Y, or Z. It is, after all, her money (of course that does, at times, stop the gimmies in their tracks).

The question for this month is at what age did you (or will you) start to give your child an allowance and how much do you feel is appropriate for each age? Inquiring minds want to know.