DadTalk

The £9000 Teenager

The average adolescent lifestyle now requires a staggering £9,000 a year to service

Gone are the days of handing your teenager a few pounds in weekly pocket money and knowing their needs were satisfied.

The average adolescent lifestyle now requires a staggering £9,000 a year to service.

Young people spend more than £1,000 a year on mobile phones, MP3 players and music downloads alone. Add £240 for haircuts and £300 for trainers and the average 17-year-old now spends 12 times more than his or her 1975 counterpart, according to a household spending survey by the Office for National Statistics.

But it is not just inflation that has made the difference. Aspirations and expectations are higher than they have ever been analysis of the figures by the accountancy trade body AAT found. Its report highlights a marked change in teenage activities and spending habits over a generation.

While a games console or stereo is significantly cheaper now than it was 30 years ago, these items are now regarded as ‘essentials’, rather than luxuries. The cost of buying an Atari 2600 games console in 1975 was the equivalent of £1,200 in today’s money.

The cost of other activities has also risen disproportionately. A trip to the cinema costs £7 today, compared with the equivalent of £4.80 in 1975, while the price of a pint is up from £2.40 to £3 when inflation is taken into account.

Average weekly pocket money now stands at £6.32, compared with £3.77 a generation ago.

Read more in the Daily Mail

Read the DadTalk article on Teenage Allowances

For help or advice, visit Got A Teenager