[b&c'smama]

We are thinking about buying a small amount of stock for our son to begin to learn about investing. (He already has a savings account) I think it might be more meaningful for him to own individual stocks, rather than mutual funds. (It is easier to understand owning a "piece" of Disney - KWIM?)

Has anyone done this... how do you get started? I read a basic article on Montley Fool about it, but would love to hear from someone who has really done it.

 

[lovbeingamommy]

We were already an investing family when my son was born. At almost two, he owns stock in a few companies traded on the NYSE and Nasdaq. I started this many years ago with an investing website called:

http://www.buyandhold.com

It is probably the cheapest online company for trading stocks at smaller amounts. The Vanguard Company is also another option for trading...This is where we have his college stock funds.

We're hoping that as he get to an older age and understands more about economics we can surprise him with some stock he's already owned since birth. The parents of course are the beneficiaries until the age of 18 or 21.

Oh, and the one book that got me started on "how" to do all of this was the online stock trading book for Dummies. It's very informative...

Hope this helps..

 

[sarasprings]

We're planning on doing it with our son. I really like those pigs that people were trying to do a coop for because there's an investment spot for saving money. We have money with an investing firm and I guess when he's big enough I'll see if it's feasible to keep his money there and invest it with the same person. My son is only 5, so we have a few more years to figure it out.

 

[velochic]

My dd is 5, and she has a few thou in Vanguard. I hate to even mention what fund she is holding because it has been doing abysmally.... um Star Fund.

:

I don't personally believe in stock investing and I'm not going to ever teach her that. I've been investing for us since I was young, about 25 years ago. I've always had steady, reliable returns with mutual fund investing and that's what I am teaching her as it has put us in a very good position for retirement. She has a slight grasp of investments rising and falling in value, but at only 5, beyond that, the nuances of investing are quite lost on her. I didn't get my first taste of investing until I was 16 and had my first "own" money, so any teaching, I believe is valuable from the beginning.

She is, however, very aware of savings. We talk a lot about not buying X or Y because it's a "bad investment" or buying it because it is a good investment. She understands the concept of being better off saving the money. She rarely initiates a conversation about how her investment is doing. We look at the charts together, though, a few times a year. Can't start young enough!

 

[mrskennedy]

We don't plan on investing at all, either for ourselves or our children, until/unless we learn more about it *and* have more money than our very tiny emergency fund. We do earn 5% on our EF, though that's not really an investment.