Today’s children are saving a lot more than previous generations.
Forget the days when childhood wealth could be measured by who had more coins in their pockets in the tuckshop queue – the cost of living crunch has meant there’s a high chance you, as an adult, have less money than the average kid.
A Finder Parenting Report 2026 has revealed Australian kids aged 12 and under have a staggering $9.46 billion cash in their piggy banks or savings accounts, with the average child having $2,833 stashed away.
This average savings balance is higher than many adults, with 42 per cent of grown-ups reporting they had less than $1,000 in savings.
Part of this imbalance could be explained by the cost of living crunch – adults’ costs are substantially higher.
Children, meanwhile, are receiving pocket money and cash gifts from their parents at a much higher rate than in previous years, while usually facing no expenses.
Finder personal finance expert Sarah Megginson said children’s saving balances were “wild”.
Finder’s Parenting Report, which was based on a nationally representative survey of 1,010 parents, revealed 81 per cent of children aged 12 and under had money saved.
About 40 per cent of kids had balances up to $1,000, while 26 per cent had $1,000-$5,000. About 4 per cent had $5,000-$10,000 and 1 per cent had over $25,000. A fifth of kids had no savings.
Parents have been slightly more generous when giving money to their sons, with boys having $2,902 on average, while girls had $2,745, on average.
Sarah Megginson, author of How to Raise Rich Kids and personal finance expert at Finder, said the findings were “pretty wild”.
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Paying high rents or mortgage costs meant parents had less money to save personally.
High children savings balanced showed Aussies were getting more serious about money from a young age, Ms Megginson said.
“To see kids racking up this kind of cash before high school is genuinely impressive,” she said.
These balances were all the more impressive “when we consider that our kids are growing up in a cashless community that promotes instant gratification and continual spending,” Ms Megginson added.
“What this also tells us is that parents are switched on and are starting to encourage these money habits early, and that’s something to celebrate.
“The fact that the average child has more in the bank than nearly half of Aussie adults is a bit sobering, but that’s likely helped along by the fact that they haven’t picked up any of the costs and habits and pressures that drain adult savings yet.”
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Nearly 40 per cent of adults claim to have no savings.
Ms Megginson said it was frustrating, but not surprising, to see boys already pulling ahead of girls in savings.
“Boys on average earn more pocket money than girls and that gap doesn’t just disappear, it follows them into adulthood as the gender pay gap.”
Parents were advised to make sure that household chores being done by boys and girls got the same pay.
“Parents can stop this in its tracks by checking that ‘boy jobs’ aren’t being paid more than ‘girl jobs’.”
Ms Megginson said if your child has cash sitting in a piggy bank or a regular transaction account, they’re missing out on “free money”.
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Parents were warned to pay boys and girls fairly if giving them pocket money based on chores.
“Open a high-interest savings account in their name – it takes just a few minutes – and encourage them to check the balance each month in the app to watch it grow.
“Kids love seeing the numbers tick up, and you’re teaching them one of the most important lessons there is: that money can earn money while you sleep.”
Housing costs remain by far the biggest expense for adults, with rents chewing up more than 30 per cent of the average household’s income in most states.
It was a similar story with mortgage repayments, which swallow more than a third of the typical household’s income in the major capital cities.
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