The age of the affluent teenager

The average 18-year-old is raking in more than £2,500 a year through part-time work and pocket money.

Around 31 per cent of 18-year-olds have a job to boost their income, a quarter of whom work in shops or restaurants, with others doing paper rounds, while 3 per cent claim to run their own business.

Overall, the age group has a monthly income averaging 219, made up from a combination of part-time work and allowances from parents, according to M&S Money. One in five children aged 14 to 18 has a job of some kind, although 29 per cent of these get money for doing chores for their parents.

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But 87 per cent of teenagers said they would like to have a part-time job by the time they were 18, as they thought it would teach them responsibility and help them to get a job when they were older.

Just over half of 16 to 18-year-olds said they had attempted to supplement their income by finding a part-time job during the past six months.

Overall, teenagers had average incomes of 74.20 a month, of which they managed to save around 30 per cent. They were most likely to spend the rest on mobile phone costs, clothes, transport or school books.

Amanda Newman, head of marketing at M&S Money, said: "The survey shows that Britain's 14 to 18s are clued up and motivated by money and work to a surprisingly mature extent."

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