The Earnwick blog

What the research says about children and money.

Plain-English reviews of the best evidence on kids, money and games, for parents and carers. Every figure is checked against its original source, and every chart says who was asked.

Games and spending Who really pays when children spend money in games? Most children who buy things in games have someone else pay, usually with a parent's card, and the payer usually knows. A small group spends a great deal. 22 Oct 2026 · 9 min readRead
Parents and habits Talk about money, then let them decide Most teenagers already talk money at home. What goes with stronger money skills is handing over small, real decisions, not more conversation. 22 Oct 2026 · 9 min readRead
Financial education Does financial education work? 76 randomised trials say teaching about money raises knowledge by about a fifth of a standard deviation and behaviour by about a tenth. Games lift knowledge; their effect on habits is barely tested. 22 Oct 2026 · 10 min readRead
Pocket money Pocket money in a cashless world What children get, how it arrives, and when the switch from coins to cards happens, while cash disappears from the adult world around them. 22 Oct 2026 · 8 min readRead
Loot boxes and game currencies Why 950 V-Bucks costs more than it says Currency bundles that rarely match item prices, odds that are hard to find, what regulators in the EU, the US and the UK have done, and Türkiye's new parental-approval law. 22 Oct 2026 · 9 min readRead

From the makers of Earnwick

A money game where every price is also work time.

Earnwick is a money game for kids aged 9+ on iPhone and iPad. No ads, no coin packs, no tracking. This research is independent of the game: none of the studies here tested Earnwick.

What the research says about children and money.

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A money game where every price is also work time.