Should Kids be Taught about the Stock Market?
By: Jordan Fraser
Tags: Teaching, Investing, Money, Kids, Teachers

Each of these companies are recognisable to the kids because they’re either famous in China, or they sell products the kids have or want.

A few of the kids made wise investment choices, but the vast majority bought shares entirely based on their personal interests.

Groups of kids that love playing either Sony Playstation or Microsoft Xbox consoles bought shares according to which side they land on in the “console war” debate.

Others bought shares entirely because the company sounded cool, and that’s as much thought they wanted to put into it.

Whatever their reasoning, it’s a great thing that they’re making mistakes and being idiots with all this fake cash they’ve been given.

The best thing about these kids making dumb money choices now is that it gives them a chance to bet big and lose it all now while it doesn’t matter.

I’ve offered a prize to whichever group can make the most money over the semester, which will incentivise them to try. It will also make them care if they lose it all.

Many investors out there lose a lot of money making personal and under-informed investment choices, until they wise up and start investing properly. My goal is to allow these kids the chance to get all that training and heartbreak out of the way now.

Photo: Aaron Burden via unsplash

The Mindset of Champions

I’m motivated to fight the standard training these kids are exposed to. I don’t want them growing up and seeing money as something they should be trading time for.

Instead, I want their perception of money to evolve beyond how the everyday person sees it. I want them to understand the true power of smart planning and good decision making early, when they’re at their most impressionable.

Kids don’t need to be seen as too young to be burdened with all this real life information. We try to protect them, but in doing so, can prevent them from learning lessons that will last the rest of their lives.

As part of integrating this financial aspect into my public speaking course, I’ll start offering groups the chance to make speeches on behalf of their investment partners.

They’ll have to justify trades, and will be rewarded with bonus shares whenever they speak better than anyone else in the class.

I’ll encourage them to research the companies they’ve bought into, and try to predict rises and falls in stock value based on real world events. All of this provides excellent material that can be used for public speaking.

Most importantly, I’ll teach them about the types of investments they should really be getting into one day, mutual and index funds. They’ll learn how these work, and will even practice putting a fund together for themselves.

The goal is to practice being risky, but learn how to be smart; all the while fulfilling the course requirements of public speaking. This is all with a class of kids who hadn’t had any desire to take a public speaking course in English until now.

Where might you or I be?

Imagine if you had taken a finance focused public speaking course when you were at school? How many mistakes could you have prevented?

I know it would have helped me a lot, which gives me all the motivation I need to make it happen.

I’m confident that teaching kids exactly what we wish we would have been taught is the only way to be successful and make a difference in kid’s lives.

There’s no need to tread the path of teachers that came before us. Instead, let’s innovate and give kids every advantage we wish we had, using the knowledge we acquired the hard way.