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Where does money come from?

12th September 2011 Print

According to the latest Halifax Pocket Money Survey, more than half of the UK's children (55%) understand that to get money, you need to earn it by working.

However, this is followed by almost a third who think money comes from the bank (30%), and over a quarter believe it comes from Mum's bag (29%) or Dad's pocket (26%).

Almost a fifth of children (18%) think money comes from the government although this rises to almost a third of Scottish children (29%). A sixth (14%) turn to the hole in the wall with this figure increasing to a fifth (22%) in the North East.

Money make-believe

One in twenty children (5%) still believe in fairytales with three per cent of children thinking the tooth fairy brings money. This rises to nearly a tenth of children in Wales (9%) and one in twenty (5%) in Yorkshire and The Humber. Two per cent of children believe money grows on trees with this rising to 4% in London and the South West.

Parents Penny Power

Encouragingly, nine in ten (89%) children know their parents earn money by working. However, 4% said they don't know how their parents get money.

Just under a tenth (7%) of children think their parents borrow money from the bank or just have it in their purse or pockets with 3% believing their parents asked friends or family.

Flavia Palacios Umana, head of savings products at Halifax, said: "Young children can sometimes have interesting perceptions of where money comes from. As they get older it is important to educate them about earning money, so they understand they need to work and save in order to spend."