Foster City, CA – Tooth Fairy spending skyrocketed in 2013 and shows no signs of slowing down. Visa’s annual survey shows that American children are receiving an average of $3.70 per lost tooth this year, which is a dramatic increase of 23% over the $3.00 per tooth left in 2012 and 42% over the $2.60 left in 2011. Based on this rate of return, a child would net a substantive $74 for a full set of 20 baby teeth.
To help parents navigate the sensitive topic of the appropriate amount their children should receive for lost teeth, Visa has created a free Tooth Fairy app and Facebook calculator.
Additional findings from the survey include:
--The Tooth Fairy was particularly generous to kids in the Northeast, leaving an average of $4.10 per tooth. Kids in the West and South trailed with an average of $3.70 and $3.60 respectively. Midwestern children found the least under their pillows with an average of $3.30 per tooth.
--10% of kids will find more than $5 per tooth under their pillow – more than three times as many as in 2011.
--36% of respondents reported that the Tooth Fairy left a dollar or less.
--On the opposite end of the spectrum, 6% said that the Tooth Fairy left $20 or more including 2% who reported that an extremely generous Tooth Fairy left $50.
--Nationwide the Tooth Fairy left the most in households with young parents. The 18-24 age group reported that she left an average of almost $5 per tooth.
--The Tooth Fairy will be visiting close to 90% of U.S. households with children - up from 84% last year.
“The Tooth Fairy is throwing money around like pixie dust,” said Nat Sillin, Visa’s head of U.S. Financial Education. “While more money is exciting news for children, parents should take this opportunity to talk saving and smart money habits with their kids and have the same talk with a perhaps overgenerous Tooth Fairy.”
The free app and calculator uses Visa’s 2013 survey data and factors in demographics such as gender, age, home state, family size, marital status, income and education levels to formulate how much money the Tooth Fairy is leaving in comparable households. It is not an endorsement or recommendation for a particular amount. The app is available for iPhones and iPads at the iTunes Store, and the calculator is available at: https://www.facebook.com/ToothFairyCalculator.
The calculator is part of Visa’s free, award-winning financial education program, Practical Money Skills for Life, which reaches millions of people around the world each year. Launched in 1995, the program is now available in 10 languages in more than 30 countries. At Practical Money Skills for Life, educators, parents and students can access free educational resources including personal finance articles, games, lesson plans, and more.
*The survey results are based on 3,000 telephone interviews conducted nationally from July 12 – July 28, 2013 in cooperation with GfK Roper’s Omnibus Service “OmniTel”. The margin of error is +/-3 percentage points.
