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Previous Issues > June 2007 > Parentown Kidsmart > Invest Time To Explain Investing
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 Parentown Kidsmart
Invest Time to Explain Investing
published: June 2007
By Susan Beacham, Money Savvy Generation
Email Author
Editor's note: This is the sixth in a series of six columns to help kids get smart about money.
When you save money in a bank account, it earns interest safely because it is protected by the federal government. But the rate of interest is fairly low, which means your money will grow s-l-o-w-l-y. When you invest money, it has the potential to grow faster than in a savings account. But investing involves risk, so there is a chance you could lose some or all of the money you invest.
So why invest? Because the higher the risk, the higher the potential return. And there are ways to minimize the risk by investing long term (10 years or more). In other words, money plus time equals more money.
Start the invest lesson by asking your child to think about something he or she might want or need 10 years from now. The easiest approach is to ask your child first to add 10 years to his or her age. Lets say your child is seven. In 10 years, he or she will be 17. Would a 17-year-old want a car or money for college? This exercise helps a child focus on the long term. Hopefully, once your child is 17, you will have taught him to think about what he might want at age 27 such as a down payment on a house.
What is investing?
Investing is buying something with the hope that it will earn more money over time. One way is to put money into the stock market. There you can buy a piece of a company, or a stock. The price of a stock is based on the companys ability to generate a cash profit. There are other ways to invest, such as buying a bond, a mutual fund or real estate. But for now, lets start with stocks.
And were going to start small, with a single share. Buying a single share of stock can be expensive if you go to a full-service broker. But there are discount brokerage options available, such as ShareBuilder (www.ShareBuilder.com), which sells a single share for a fee as low as $4, provided you invest regularly.
Even one share makes you an owner of the company and entitles you to get copies of the annual report, a sort of report card on a company that tells shareholders what a company does and how well it does it.
Explain to your child that sometimes the stock market feels like a roller coaster with a lot of ups and downs. Changes in the economy or the company can affect profits and the stocks price. If the company makes money, you share in the profits. If the company loses money, you share in the losses.
So, if you sell your stock on a day that the company isnt doing well, you can lose money. However, if you paid $1 for your stock, and you sell when it is worth $5, you make five times what you invested. If you have the nerves to ride out the lows, you can make a lot of money.
Choosing a company
To help your child choose a company to invest in:
Pick a product your child likes. It may be a favorite toy or food or athletic equipment. Linking your childs first stock purchase with something he loves will help make investing come alive for him.
Research the company. How does the company earn money? Is it profitable, and why? Does this company plan to grow bigger and better? Search the Web for news reports and the companys Website, as well as that of any competitors.
Determine how youll keep track of the companys performance. Tracking the performance of the company and how the stock price responds to the ups and downs is an important part of learning how the stock market works.
The point of this initial foray into the stock market is to learn how to buy and sell a stock, not necessarily to make money. So dont worry about whether your child picks a dud. Just worry about whether he or she has learned the mechanics of the market and the long-term vision needed to be an investor.
Susan Beacham is the founder and CEO of Money Savvy Generation, a financial education company that provides innovative products and services to help parents and educators teach children the basic skills of personal finance, www.MoneySavvyGeneration.com. E-mail her at susan@MSGEN.com.
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