She has started a dog-walking business, Amy's Walkies of Harrison, to raise enough money to buy a pony when the family moves out of town.

And her early financial nous will probably hold her in good stead, with a British study showing children who are just given pocket money are less likely to save money than those who work for their dollars and cents.

Amy's budding business - offering dog walks on Saturdays under the supervision of her parents - is to supplement her $5 a week pocket money. But parents Lisa and Tony like her to know the value of a dollar and to work for her pocket money.

''She has to earn her money - keep her room tidy, put her clothes away and on Saturday mornings she has to vacuum and mop the floors,'' Mrs Weissel said.

Amy took it a step further by starting her business, mainly because the family is now living in a rented home and can't have its own dog. Animal lover Amy, a year six student at Harrison School, has so far raised more than $100 for her pony. ''I do want to work with horses when I'm older,'' she said.

Mrs Weissel said she didn't want to just hand over money to her only child.

''I've always thought if you've wanted something that's not in the budget plan, if you want something special, you've got to save up for it,'' she said.

''If she wants to do extra jobs around the house, she can get extra money. But she was the one who wanted to work with dogs so it was a great way to combine the two goals.''

The Royal Economic Society in England this month published the results of a study by academics Sarah Brown and Karl Taylor which found that pocket money lowered the chances that a child saved, while having part-time work increased the chances that a child saved.

''For example, a 1 per cent increase in the child's allowance is associated with a fall in the probability that the child saves by 22 percentage points,'' the society reported. The study could track the children's spending habits into early adulthood and found that those who saved in childhood were more likely to save as they got older.

''Our findings indicate that shaping the financial behaviour of children may have long-lasting effects in terms of financial behaviour and decision-making as an adult,'' the authors reported. The Commonwealth Bank, in a study earlier this year, said Australian children aged four to 15 were on average receiving $10.17 a week in pocket money.

Seventy-one per cent of children were expected to do some household chores in return for their pocket money, most commonly tidying their bedroom (56 per cent).

Commonwealth Bank Foundation director David Cohen said there were benefits to introducing children to situations where they were dealing with real money. ''You can teach your children how to budget, how to save towards something they really want, the value of earning money and also the benefits of saving versus spending,'' he said.

How children earn their pocket money:

■ Tidying bedroom - 56 per cent

■ Doing dishes - 36 per cent

■ Tidying house - 36 per cent

■ Setting the table - 30 per cent

■ Taking out rubbish - 27 per cent

■ Pet care - 19 per cent

■ Hanging washing - 13 per cent

■ Cleaning the yard - 9 per cent

■ Washing car - 8 per cent

■ Babysitting - 3 per cent

■ Pool maintenance - 1 per cent

Source: Commonwealth Bank