How to Teach Teens About Investing
All parents want their children to grow up to be happy. While money can’t buy happiness, it can buy security and pleasurable experiences. Setting kids up for a strong financial future is one of the best things you can do to ensure that they’ll be happy and successful as adults. But it can be hard to teach teens about investing, especially if you feel like you could be doing better as an adult.
It’s important for children to be around money early and to earn and have their own money so they understand how it works. Rather than parents just buying gifts for their children I would suggest giving their children shares of stock or money so they can make the decision of how to use their money on their own. Being responsible for money at an early age allows children to learn about money management early. They’ll quickly learn that if they spend more than they have, their savings will quickly run out (a lesson many adults still don’t know).
~Jack Rosenthal
In this article, best selling author Jack Rosenthal presents several key ways to teach teens about investing. The best way to teach kids about money is to give kids money. The sooner children are responsible for money, the sooner they’ll be able to learn how money works. Even making mistakes with money can be beneficial to children. It’s much better to regret buying a $20 toy than an $20,000 car. It’s also important to start investing as early as possible since money invested as a teenager has decades to compound throughout the child’s life. Getting a job as a teenager can be a great way to earn money to invest. Furthermore, earned income can be deposited in a Roth IRA. Since children are likely to be in the 0% tax bracket, that money can grow tax free for their entire life.
Why Elon Musk Could Be Forced To Build A Smartphone
Elon Musk has been in a news a lot this year. Most of it dealt with the “will-he-won’t-he” drama over his bid to buy Twitter. Now that he owns a large social media company, everyone wonders what he will do next. While there were rumors of a Tesla “Pi Phone” for some time, his Twitter takeover may force him to create a smartphone.
App stores banning social media apps is not unprecedented. Heralded as a Twitter replacement, Parler was banned from the Apple App store in 2021, shortly after Google also banned it from the Play store.
~Financial Freedom Countdown
This article by Financial Freedom Countdown talks about how Elon’s bid for Twitter may force him to create his own smartphone. Firstly, Elon has instituted some controversial changes in the app and reinstated several previously banned accounts. It could be possible that Twitter may be removed from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. If this happened, Elon may need to create his own phone and operating system to distribute his app. Furthermore, Elon has been focusing on increasing Twitter revenue through subscription fees. Since both Apple and Google take a 30% cut on in-app purchases, this represents a huge tax on Twitter’s potential subscription revenues. By creating his own phone, Elon may be able to create competition on smart phone app store fees.
Feeling of Wealth
2022 has been a rough year, moneywise. As I am writing this post, the S&P 500 is down about 17% year to date. Even bond funds haven’t been safe. The rising interest rates have caused the Bloomberg Barclays Bond Index to crash by 15% this year. Even if you kept your money in your mattress you’d be a lot worse off over this past year since inflation has been at near record highs. No matter how you look at things, you’re likely less well off than you were last time this year. This article by Indeedably examines how these losses in wealth can affect your psyche.
300+ years ago, the Bank of England started printing paper money. £50 was the smallest denomination of banknotes initially produced. At the time, the average family earned less than £20 per year, which meant the bulk of the population went their whole lives without ever seeing a banknote.
~Indeedably
Have you ever returned to a vacation spot after a very long time of not visiting and been shocked by the prices? While most of the time inflation is a slow and almost invisible process, over time these price increases can become shocking. The author points out that when the British Pound Sterling was created, £1 could buy 15 cows whereas now £1 can’t even buy a meal. While no one could have experienced that dramatic drop-off in purchasing power during a single lifetime, we all need to come to terms with the loss of wealth over time. Likewise, during a market crash, we also experience a decrease in our purchasing power. If you’ve been struggling with coming to terms with your money in 2022, this is a great article to help you put it in perspective.