Tooth Fairy feels the pinch after overspending

USA Today:

The Tooth Fairy is holding her purse strings a bit tighter.

She left 8% less this year – or an average of $3.40 for every lost tooth she finds under a pillow – down from $3.70 in 2013, according to a survey from Visa out Thursday. Still, she’s leaving more than she did in 2012 before tooth inflation rose 23% from 2012 to 2013.

“She’s had her wings clipped a little bit,” says Jason Alderman, Visa’s vice president of global financial education. “Even though it is down, this is the first real decline we’ve seen even during the recession because Tooth Fairy inflation has far exceeded the rate of traditional inflation.”

…

Kit Yarrow, consumer psychologist at Golden Gate University, says she hasn’t seen any indication that kids on the playground compete to see who got more from the Tooth Fairy. She says the conversation is always about the fact she visited and the excitement of losing a tooth.

“Losing body parts can be disconcerting and it’s turned into something magical and fun with the tooth fairy,” Yarrow says.

Yarrow says children are more fascinated by coins than paper money. So silver dollars or quarters are more exciting, and even trinkets in place of money can do the trick. Alderman says he’s settled on $1 per tooth.

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