'My daughter is an influencer - but I don't let her touch the money she earns'

22 November 2023 , 09:58

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A dad fears he is being too controlling of his teenage daughter's high earnings (Image: Getty Images)

A man has sparked a debate after revealing how he has been limiting his daughter's access to her own money after she racked in serious cash as an influencer. The 48-year-old is happy his daughter has become so engrossed in her in digital influencer culture, especially as it helped take her mind off the loss of her mother three years ago and had a "major positive impact in a difficult time in her life". But he was shocked at the amount of money some of the companies were offering her and decided to put it away for her.

But his 15-year-old daughter was not happy that he was going to bank the money for her for later and now the Reddit poster has asked fellow users of the site if what he's doing is too heavy-handed. Some agreed with him, but others felt he was using double standards and missing the chance to educate her about managing money.

The father said: "Whenever a company approaches her, I help the best way I can, going over the terms and conditions of contracts and so on. One thing that surprised me, though, is that some of those offers involve SERIOUS money, so I told my daughter from day one that I will put it all away for her so she can access her money when she turns 18. My view is that, for as long as she’s a minor and unable to make more informed financial decisions, she should get by on her allowance, just as my other two children do."

He said that his daughter was fine with that at first, but then started asking for more of her money, arguing that he allows his other daughter to keep and spend the earnings from her babysitting work. The poster added: "It’s a ridiculous comparison because a teen having some pocket money from babysitting as a complement to their allowance doesn’t even begin to compare to the kind of money my other daughter is making now. But it’s a fair point, and I gave her that.

He told his daughter that as a reference he would average the earnings of her sister or what her brother was earning working in the fast-food industry or an average of what most teenagers will earn at that age and still put away the bulk of her cash until she was 18. He added: "She thought I wasn’t taking her seriously to propose something like that. So, was this an a**hole-ish move on my part?"

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One user who was unsure about whether the dad was correct or not, said: "I completely see your point that giving a 15-year-old access to that kind of money isn't wise for her future. On the other hand, it seems like you're treating her with a double standard.

"You are letting her make adult decisions by being on social media and gaining a following/doing brand deals. Just like she is too young to be expected to manage a large sum of money, many would argue that she's too young to understand the implications of being an influencer on her future. A brand deal with the wrong company, saying the wrong thing once, could have a major impact on her future."

One poster agreed with the dad, saying: "This is like child actors, clearly they are working in the adult world but decent parents won’t just let them go wild with no oversight or control. How is this different? It’s not a double standard, it’s a careful exposure to some grown up places. You're not in the wrong, but there are some specifics we don’t know (like exact amounts of money) so hard to advise."

And another thought that the dad was wrong for what he was doing, commenting: "It's not his money, it's hers and she earned it, she (rightly) has no say in her sibling's incomes and management of said income, nor can she tell them what to do or not do and they should have no say or consideration in her income/management or what she does either, he's not giving her more money than siblings because it's her money so sibling's incomes are entirely irrelevant.

"If she was a high-earning adult, would he expect her to spend less of it or hand it out because her siblings earned less? I highly doubt it. He is considering outright gatekeeping his daughter's earnings in deference to her siblings and that's definitely not right."

Paul Donald