My son had a science fair last week at his elementary school. My wife and I went to support him.
We found his display and said hi, then walked around and said hi to a few of his friends.
When it was time to go we went back and gave him a hug and he said, “Dad, my friend’s parents came over while you were walking around and I was showing them my science project about germs and then my other friends interrupted and were like, ‘and he’s learning stocks.’ They were saying that about me because I was telling them I have $400 saved and you were telling me about different ways to invest.”
He went on to talk about how his friends thought it was so cool I started teaching him and his little brother and sister (they’re all elementary age) about how to maximize their money and, when they’re ready to be patient and “not touch their money for a while,” we can put it in stocks.
“He’s only 12! Twelve!!” my son said they kept saying about him learning stocks.
Proud they’re learning, but it’s more powerful that they’re proud of themselves.
When he was repeating “He’s only 12!” you could see his pride about how cool he thought it was that a grown up was impressed.
Until this morning, all of the stock and investment talk was just the basics. But, thanks to some Facebook friends last week, found some stock simulators so I could actually show them the ups and downs of stocks, business, life so they could learn risk/reward before actually taking risks.
Installed the app on their phones this morning and it starts you out with $10k.
The invested around half of the $10k. Told them they didn’t have to use it all. To think about companies they like or that do cool things and invest in those.
They bought a mix of Apple, Tesla, some airlines, one liked Nike.
20 minutes later, before leaving to school, “Dad, it’s red and says I lost $50.”
He was pretty bummed.
Told him that’s good to see. Don’t touch it. It’s important to see how things go up and down and to not react emotionally. Just leave it and we’ll see how the day ends.
Few hours later and now they’re up. Went from $-50 to +$130.
He’s going to be excited when he gets home.
Day one and already awesome lessons learned.
