Posted by Robert(CA) on April 20, 2000 at 14:42:37:
Starting at 5 years old, I began giving my kids (now 6 & 8 yrs.)a weekly allowance of $0.25 per year of age.
If they put their money in the “Save” Piggy Bank (they must save it for at least one year) , I double their money when they take it out.
If they put money in their “Invest” Piggy Bank, which means that they can only get the money when they are grown up (I tell them “That’s when you are 25”), I multiply it by 4x!
Can you predict the outcome? I thought so too, but I was wrong. They have completely blown me away with surprise. They put almost everything in their “Invest” Piggy banks, even pennies they find on the street!
It’s getting to the point that I may have to change the rules. My son put $100 he got from his birthday in the “Invest” Piggy Bank, and I had to send $400 to his investment account.
I opened their investment accounts at a discount brokerage last Xmas. and put the money that they had saved in their “Invest” Piggy Banks, multplied by 4, into the accounts. Now that they are old enough to understand numbers, they are very interested in seeing the monthly statements from their accounts.
After many discussions about investing, real estate, business, companies, shares, partial ownership of businesses, onwership vs. control, market timing, etc., my daughter decided to use 1/3 of her “Invest” money to buy 4 shares of Microsoft on Monday.
And now I just can’t believe it: For the last 2 days, the moment she came home from school she wanted to see the Microsoft stock chart. She is 8 years old, but at this rate I can only wonder when her net worth will surpass mine.