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It Is Never Too Early To Start Planning Your Financial Future

 

Kids:  Ask lots of questions!  You can start saving your own money and investing for your future now.  See our "Stock Exercise" below.

Parents:  You can help your children learn financial literacy and investment strategies - we are happy to help!  See: Financial Literacy For Young People

  • Did you know - while we've been using money for thousands of years, we only started using paper money in 1862?
  • Strange things that have been used as money - fish, shells, soap, salt, candy, rocks, cheese, tea
  • Physical money doesn't last long - most $20 bills (and smaller) last less than four years; then they are mostly recycled into other items 
  • The Secret Service - was originally created to stop counterfeiting (the illegal act of creating fake money)

Stock Exercise - Try This!

  1. For two days, jot down all of the places you go, things you wear, things you buy and things you eat.  Make a specific note of the brands.   (examples: coffee shops, big stores, cars, fast food, grocery stores, shoes, tv, software, phone)
  2. Next, with your parents or on the internet - see if the brands that you listed are Public Companies, meaning they have shares (little pieces of the company) that you can buy.   You can usually do this by going to the company website and seeing if there is an investor relations section of the website.  There are often interesting presentations to look at in "Presentations" or "Events" headings under Investor Relations
  3. Narrow down your list by circling the brands that you love and by putting stars beside names that represent something you don't think most people know yet (examples: fast food restaurant has new product that is amazing, store has new app that all of your friends are using) 
  4. Next, see if you have any names that have both a circle and a star.   Find out the Ticker (2-4 letter code name) for these companies with your family on a financial website (or Google).   Watch how the stock prices behave for a few weeks.   
  5. See if you can get on a financial website and see if each company has growing revenue (what they sell) and growing income (what they keep after paying expenses)
  6. Discuss with your family if it makes sense for your family to buy a few shares of these companies

Start Early and Every Little Bit Helps

There's a little magic idea in finance named "compounding".   It basically means: as your money grows, you also experience growth on "the growth".   Picture a tree branch growing and then growing smaller branches.

  • The longer you invest for, the more your money grows;
  • The higher the rate that you invest at, the more your money grows

So, consider this: 

You have $100 in your bank account, you deposit another $100 each year, you keep doing this for 40 years and you earn 5% on your investments every year (so if you start with $100, you would add $5 in the first year).  How much do you have in the end?

  • $5,000
  • $9,850
  • $12,874
  • $20,112

 

Did you guess $12,874?  CORRECT

Now, your family says to do this for 50yrs instead and finds a way for you earn 8% on your investments every year (so if you start with $100, you would add $8).  How much do you have in the end?

  • $15,100
  • $23,851
  • $41,814
  • $62,067

Did you guess $62,067?  CORRECT:  That is almost a five times increase from the answer above.   Going from 5% to 8% and 40 years to 50 years makes a HUGE difference!    

CLICK the link below for a chart with several different outcomes

 

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