How to get your kids to care about investing
If you can get your kids interested in investing, they’ll have a head start in knowing how to build wealth.
But where do you start?
Here are five ideas to get your kids interested in investing and building long-term wealth.
1. Show them your investment portfolio
If you have an investment portfolio which directly affects your kids, you can show and explain it to them. For example, if you’re investing to buy your child a car, let them track the value of the investment and compare that to car prices to see if the investment will cover the car they want.
2. Let them search for the basic concepts online
Give your kids a new investment phrase every week and let them look up what it means. For example, you can educate them about bear markets, bull markets, stock market volatility and more.
You could use FLX to make this fun by offering to reward your kids for every definition they get right and linking the reward size to how detailed their explanation is. Once they’ve explained the investment concept, you can immediately transfer the funds from your Flexischools app to their FLX account for them to spend using their FLX prepaid card.
3. Teach your kids about risk and reward
You can demonstrate how risk and reward are linked. For example, you can help your kids invest $100 in shares, invest $100 in bonds and put $100 in a savings account. They can then track how their money grows over time.
You can also use the savings function included in the FLX App. Your kids can create ‘investing’ as a savings goal and transfer the rewards you give them for their investment knowledge to this savings goal. Once they reach their target amount, they can start investing the money.
4. Download apps for them to practise on
There are apps which let kids learn about and practise investing using virtual money. Your kids can invest individually or as a group. Some apps will rank the kids’ performances and let them compete against their friends.
There are apps for:
Trading in shares with virtual money, known as virtual stock market simulator apps
Foreign exchange trading platforms for beginners that will teach your kids to invest in foreign currencies using virtual money
Teaching kids how to make investment decisions and grow their wealth using a variety of investments like property or shares (known as tycoon games)
Teaching kids about investing, like ‘Learn: Stock Market Investing’
5. Download real investing apps for kids
Once your kids understand the fundamentals and have practised trading, you can let them trade using real money. For example
‘Stash101 Fantasy Investing’ teaches kids about investing and lets them make parent-approved trades
‘Stockpile: How Families Invest’ lets your kids choose and own their own stocks and trade in them, but parents must approve the transactions and retain control until the kids are no longer minors
If kids have fun while learning about investing and see the consequences of their investment decisions, they may be encouraged to continue investing and to learn more about it.
FLX is linked to your Flexischools account and helps your kids learn to set and reach their own savings goals. You can join FLX here.
This is general advice. Read the PDSs & TMDs at www.flexischools.com.au/legal before deciding if FLX is right for you. The FLX Services & Flexischools are provided by InLoop Pty Ltd ABN 27 114 508 771 AFSL 471558 (trading as Flexischools). The FLX Prepaid Mastercard is issued by EML Payment Solutions Limited ABN 30 131 436 532 AFSL 404131 pursuant to license by Mastercard Asia/Pacific Pte. Ltd.