Jul 23 2007
Research from Halifax has shown how British children have shifted their savings focus over the past 20 years from aiming to buy musical socks or a karaoke machine to accumulating enough cash for the latest computer games.
And while millions of parents add to trust funds for their children's future, the latest figures show that UK kids now spend their pocket money on looking cool and on having the latest computerised gadgets.
"Whereas 20 years ago children spent their money on toys or saved towards things like holidays, nowadays children are likely to buy DVDs and mobile phones, which simply didn't exist in 1987," explained Mike Regnier, head of savings at Halifax.
The figures compiled recently by Halifax also show that the amount of money parents give their children as pocket money has risen by an average of around 600 per cent in the past two decades.
Meanwhile, the most recent data from the Tax Incentivised Savings Association showed that contributions to child trust funds are increasing across the UK.
