My children do not understand money beyond what falls out of the cards their grandparents and aunts send them at every worthwhile, and Hallmark concocted, holiday. Money = some unknown amount of Legos, dolls, and candy. My eldest, sort of understands the idea of owning a share of a company. When I ask him what he'd buy if forced to not spend money on candy or Legos, but on stocks, even after explaining what an index fund is, he always says Amazon (and who can blame him, I swear there's an Amazon box on our front steps every single day I get home from work!).
But we're getting to the point where I feel it's important to learn some basics. Both the actual mechanics, like writing a check, balancing a book or at least understanding that you must know how much you actually have to write a check against, interest, etc... But that's not all. Some lessons on delayed gratification (saving), interest, compounding, and what really is this thing called "stocks" and the "market", its risks and rewards.
We have a local brick & mortar bank a block away where I keep a checking account for the sole purpose of the occasional need for a bank check, medallion signature, and deposit box. Otherwise I absolutely hate the place ever since it became "Truist" (and I would love to meet the clever little consultants that came up with that name).
So one thought is stroll down there, open some kiddo accounts with them, they see a real teller in the flesh and all, and earn whatever pittance interest they pay. I am fully on board doing some sort of matching to any deposits or investing they do.
On the other hand, I could do the same at Fidelity/Schwab, hell even IB (feels like they'd be guaranteed a fate of degenerate gambler or hedge fund manager), but there would be no physical place to associate everything with, which is hard for my pre-internet childhood self to relate to.
I also am deathly afraid of making the whole thing un-fun, boring, annoying, and basically ruining what I hope to accomplish. I get it that writing checks is rare, and will be even rarer. But it's important, sometimes in ways that aren't very tangible immediately, like writing thank you notes, or writing cursive. Just like there are two kinds of people in the world, those that can throw a spiral with a football and those that can't, there are people that have written many and know how/when/why to write thank you notes and those that never did and don't. And yes, I judge in both cases, I'm only human, just raised right. Extra credit for cursive, too.
Inflation must be hitting the holiday card scene. The kids hauled in $20 for freaking Valentine's Day. Valentines Day! Who even sends cards across the country with $20 for multiple kids on Valentines Day?! My sister does, apparently. So no paltry 2% bank interest is going to compete with that.
My thoughts are, skip the physical but worst bank ever (Truist), and go right to MY brokerage, no personal accounts, the last thing we need is more accounts, especially ones for minors with parents as custodians. Tell them to pick a stock or index (after a primer on the two), match their contribution, with adult legalese/fineprint about forfeiture of match if wishing to withdraw anything in <1-2 years of course, and make a game of it , like who's ahead or whatever, with parental matching they are guaranteed to come out ahead or we have much bigger problems to worry about. Checks (my checks) can be written out to me upon withdrawal. Must check balances before writing checks. Hopefully I can convince them to hold until a higher education graduation. I will not prevent them from making the mistake of withdrawing early or selling dips though.
Good? Is there a good playbook already written for this? Suggestions?
But we're getting to the point where I feel it's important to learn some basics. Both the actual mechanics, like writing a check, balancing a book or at least understanding that you must know how much you actually have to write a check against, interest, etc... But that's not all. Some lessons on delayed gratification (saving), interest, compounding, and what really is this thing called "stocks" and the "market", its risks and rewards.
We have a local brick & mortar bank a block away where I keep a checking account for the sole purpose of the occasional need for a bank check, medallion signature, and deposit box. Otherwise I absolutely hate the place ever since it became "Truist" (and I would love to meet the clever little consultants that came up with that name).
So one thought is stroll down there, open some kiddo accounts with them, they see a real teller in the flesh and all, and earn whatever pittance interest they pay. I am fully on board doing some sort of matching to any deposits or investing they do.
On the other hand, I could do the same at Fidelity/Schwab, hell even IB (feels like they'd be guaranteed a fate of degenerate gambler or hedge fund manager), but there would be no physical place to associate everything with, which is hard for my pre-internet childhood self to relate to.
I also am deathly afraid of making the whole thing un-fun, boring, annoying, and basically ruining what I hope to accomplish. I get it that writing checks is rare, and will be even rarer. But it's important, sometimes in ways that aren't very tangible immediately, like writing thank you notes, or writing cursive. Just like there are two kinds of people in the world, those that can throw a spiral with a football and those that can't, there are people that have written many and know how/when/why to write thank you notes and those that never did and don't. And yes, I judge in both cases, I'm only human, just raised right. Extra credit for cursive, too.
Inflation must be hitting the holiday card scene. The kids hauled in $20 for freaking Valentine's Day. Valentines Day! Who even sends cards across the country with $20 for multiple kids on Valentines Day?! My sister does, apparently. So no paltry 2% bank interest is going to compete with that.
My thoughts are, skip the physical but worst bank ever (Truist), and go right to MY brokerage, no personal accounts, the last thing we need is more accounts, especially ones for minors with parents as custodians. Tell them to pick a stock or index (after a primer on the two), match their contribution, with adult legalese/fineprint about forfeiture of match if wishing to withdraw anything in <1-2 years of course, and make a game of it , like who's ahead or whatever, with parental matching they are guaranteed to come out ahead or we have much bigger problems to worry about. Checks (my checks) can be written out to me upon withdrawal. Must check balances before writing checks. Hopefully I can convince them to hold until a higher education graduation. I will not prevent them from making the mistake of withdrawing early or selling dips though.
Good? Is there a good playbook already written for this? Suggestions?
Statistics: Posted by Bulletproof — Wed Mar 20, 2024 10:47 pm — Replies 0 — Views 40