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Investing In Stocks
Investing with kids is a valuable life lesson. As a middle schooler, I remember learning about the stock market and using the newspaper to check the gains and losses of specific stocks. I love the idea of teaching my ten-year-old and sixteen-year-old how to invest in stocks. The idea of investing in stock sounds overwhelming and some think it requires a significant amount of money to get started
- Building wealth for the future means saving money to invest. Where do you start with teaching kids about investing? The best example is teaching kids the difference with saving money at home versus investing the same amount of money with a return. The first lesson is to show what happens when kids save their allowance and gifts in a box versus investing in stock. It is also important for kids to understand how the stock market goes up and down. If they return in 5 years, the same amount is in the box. Now if they take the same amount of money and invest in stocks with a return* over time they will see the growth of the investment. (*profit from investment) If they save $500 dollars in a box and come back in 5 years later it is the same $500. If the same $500 is invested in stock, over 5 years with a 5% return now they have $525.00.
How to Get Started Investing with Stockpile
- Open up a stock account also known as a brokerage account
- There is no minimum amount to invest and you can purchase fractional shares of stock. For example, if one share of Apple stock is $100, you can buy $50 of Apple which is a half of a share
- Stockpile does not charge a monthly fee and the trading commission is $.99 cents a trade. If you purchase a $50 share of Starbucks, it will cost $50.99 for the trade
- Stockpile will allow your child(ren) their own log in to check their investments and purchase stock trades
- Start early, invest regularly and diversify
- Develop a strategy for trading – Buy and Hold means choosing a company that you believe in. Invest and wait out the ups and downs of the return. Buy on the Dips- track a company and buy when the stock dips. Lastly, you can buy a stock that is underrated or undervalued and hold onto them until the value returns.
- No strategy is foolproof
- Pick companies that you know, research the company online
Investing with Stockpile
- Have family and friends help you with investing
- Stockpile offers gift cards. Family and friends can buy an egift, by picking a stock and dollar amount, send to recipient’s email address and pay with a debit or credit card. When the egift is redeemed the stock goes into your Stockpile account.
- Physical gift cards are available at Kmart, OfficeMax, Wegmans, Giant Eagle and other retailers or online.
- Stockpile has a gift registry called “wishlist”. You can choose your favorite stocks and share them with your friends and family. They can purchase your favorite stocks for birthdays and special occasions.