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2015 Tooth Fairy Index Shows Current Market Value of a Tooth
According to Visa's annual Tooth Fairy survey, American children are receiving an average of $3.19 per lost tooth this year, a decrease of 24 cents from last year. Kids can expect to receive approximately $64 on the road to adult teeth, down from ...
Aug. 17, 2015
According to Visa’s annual Tooth Fairy survey, American children are receiving an average of $3.19 per lost tooth this year, a decrease of 24 cents from last year. Kids can expect to receive approximately $64 on the road to adult teeth, down from $74 only two years ago. 2015 marks the second year in a row that the Tooth Fairy has left less under pillows.
“The Tooth Fairy is finally fluttering back to earth,” said Nat Sillin, Visa’s director of global financial education. “No matter how much is left under the pillow, a visit from the Tooth Fairy is an ideal opportunity to talk with children about the importance of saving and budgeting.”
In conjunction with the survey, Visa is releasing its first Practical Money Skills app for Android, an updated iTunes Store app, and an updated Facebook calculator all to help the Tooth Fairy determine the appropriate amount children should receive for lost teeth. While not an endorsement of how much money the Tooth Fairy should leave children for a lost tooth, the apps and calculator use Visa’s 2015 survey data and factor 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. The apps are available for iPhones and iPads at the iTunes Store, Android devices at Google Play, and the calculator is available at: http://practicalmoneyskills.com/toothfairy
“Visa created the Tooth Fairy apps and calculator so that anyone — from the first time mother to the father of three — can get an idea of what the Fairy is leaving under pillows in other households,” Sillin said. “It’s a fun and helpful glimpse at next door, or thousands of miles away.”
Additional findings from the survey include:
32% of respondents said that a dollar was left by the Tooth Fairy, by far the most popular amount. Nearly 20% of respondents reported that the Tooth Fairy left a $5 bill. 5% of households reported that the Tooth Fairy left $20 or more under the pillow. For the second year in a row, fathers reported a far more indulgent Tooth Fairy, saying that she left nearly 30% more than moms did: $3.63 vs. $2.87. In the Northeast, 1 in 4 children (25%) got $5 or more, and around 1 in 13 (8%) were left with $20 or more, driving the average in the Northeast up to $3.56. In the Midwest the Fairy left an average of $3.13. Kids in the West and South received an average of $3.09 and $3.07 respectively.
The calculator and app are 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.