My 11yo the junior investor!

My 11yo son is totally obsessed with money and investing, and plans to buy his first property by the time he is 15yo!! He invests nearly every dollar he receives from pocket money or gifts.

He is also very passionate about educating other children and has developed his own website. To help spread the word, he would love it if some of you could take a minute to have a look at it. I am so proud of him.

He’s adding more content daily as he learns more and in response to queries he receives. Any suggestions or comments gratefully received.

Tom'$ Money Magic

Disclaimer: This is absolutely not a commercial venture, it is about educating other children.

 

Good job Tom.

 

First vlog from Tom$ Money Magic
My first ever vlog!

 

Well done Tom

 

Great start!

 

Come on, do the right thing!!

Haven’t you heard - property is unaffordable, bank aren’t leading money, ...

Be a good parent, bring your son back to reality

 

Well done Tom. My own son starting saving and investing at an early age(a little later than you). He also bought and sold cars while at high school to earn extra money for a deposit for his first house. I love your enthusiasm.

 

He tried buying a reselling books but lost money in the transaction! He’s doing well making and selling muffins by door knocking. I think he’s counting the days until he turns 14 and can get a part time job!

 

This is awesome!..

 

This is fantastic. Australia does poorly in educating it's children about financial literacy.

Ask Tom if he can create an enquiry/ questions form in his website so that he gets more response.

Also he can add social media plugin so other people can share the website easily.

I saw the Amazon book link but don't know if he has added the Amazon affiliate link, that way he will get commission out of every book purchased using his link.

 

I was expecting a section titled “blackmail dad/mum” under “How I can get money” which would include points like:

1. Tell dad he needs to give you $1 otherwise you’ll tell mum that he forgot to pick you on time

2. Tell mum she needs to give you $1 otherwise you’ll let dad know you scratched the car

 

Thanks Jazz! I started listening to your podcast today and thought I might play some to Tom too.

 

Thanks so much for the feedback Andy. He has a "Contact us" page but maybe a more simple ask a question form would be better. He is not yet on social media (I am not keen until he is at least in high school). I have shared his page on many FB groups I belong to though.

We are investigating how to do the Amazon affiliate link.

 

That would be funny actually! I'll give him those ideas to add.

 

Careful! He might start using those tips on you. LOL

 

Introduce him to the concept of compound interest
The Power of Compound Interest - Barefoot Investor

A Letter to My Second-Born - Barefoot Investor

 

These are secret ninja tips in the members only section of the website at a cost of $1.97 per month.

 

He loves compound interest! He has a small much more basic table of his own on the site
Can my money grow?

 

You sometimes hear stories like "If only I'd bought $10 k worth of shares in 1960, I'd be a multi-millionaire now". Ignoring the fact that $10 k was a huge amount of money back then (several houses or probably a farm) back then and few would have had access to that amount. So it's academic.

Conversely you see books talk about "saving a million", when sure, you do get to a million, but in 20 - 30 years. By then $1m is an insubstantial sum and not what most peoples idea of financial independence is made of. In this case the million needs to be scaled up based on projected inflation and costs.

Similarly $5k is a huge (impractical) amount for most 15 year old born of parents of average means. Conversely it will be a pittance in 20 years for your friend to be investing at age 35.

While the message is harder to sell, a true graph should start at a more realistic figure (say $1k for the 15 yo) but the amounts saved annually should escalate by a projected inflation rate. Also the 10% average annual growth rate for interest might be on the high side. Dropping from a 10% to a more conservative 6% will make some big differences.

As for the site - good effort. Yellow on white isn't a great contrast so I'd fiddle with colours and backgrounds to make headings stand out. Adjusting transparency of images can help. Some might find the use of the $ sign for S old and cheesy. And it sounds wet blanketish - but maybe some sort of disclaimer about it not being individual advice and to discuss things with your parents (though there's a risk here that some parents might be idea killers!).

Can my money grow? may need review. Are the returns inflation adjusted or not? They seem to be different. Eg the piggy back option is inflation adjusted (though the 1% of inflation assumed is very low). But I'm not sure the others are. And some normal bank accounts are near enough to zero per cent so hardly better than piggy banks. Fees can also chew up interest also - so consider these as well as the interest rate when shopping around. That page pushes Raiz but is it better to encourage people to shop around noting returns, risks and management fees from various managed investments?

 

Great job, Tom.

BTW @splatters, how did you get your son to be interested in money & investing?