Once again lil sk8er.
Just had a quick look at the site again and some criticism for you guys:
Also i looked at that and went blah, blah, blah...C'mon ive been around this sort of things for many many years now and i would have no idea about half the stuff you're talking about.
In Whose Name? Is a small link in there, if you haven't read it do so now. You say that you are trying to dumb it down for us but at this age does it look like we care about trusts?? Nope.
This site is very complex for us teens and as well as this in SC and HSC years we don't need to remeber even more information, it needs to be something we don't need to study - not something we are going to be bombarded with and have our brains about to burst with all the information.
Tipping Point by Michael Whyte. You are very smart and you've written some great information, but..
WTF??????? Need i say more.
I agree with categorising the site eg. Beginners could be year 10, Intermediate year 11 and Advanced year 12. Be logical.
Lil sk8er.
OK, not quoting myself, but my daughter here. What she is saying makes sence. She has had investing drummed into her for going on 10 years now, so is streets ahead of the target audience.
Maybe Shonnie, because both you & James are young yourselves & are both passionate about this project, you are trying too hard to teach them too much. Did either of you sit down with the parents of kids/young people who are actively either investing or working towards it to find out how they were able to steer them in the right direction. Thinking of examples from the forum we have Kristine. I believe all her kids started young. Then their is Mish Mash, I can't remember who her parents are, but they are forum members. There are a few others, that I can't quite remember at the moment. Then there is my own kids, who are a little younger than the other examples.
I think you will find in most cases of young people investing (where they have investor parents), the desire to invest has come from many years of the parents slowly molding their thinking & actively talking to them & explaining how things work. I'll use my own kids as examples here, as I know them better than others & I know how I have guided them.
First, the eldest. She has been working part-time for many years. She was 10 years of age when she earnt her first wages, working at our skating rink. When she started work, I told her that she would save half of her income, minimum. Not negotiable. This money was not to be touched until she was 18 & then it could be used to purchase an asset, not frittered away.
Fast forward to today, she is 18, still works part-time, plus has a traineeship. She has a deposit for her first home, but her income is not large enough yet to service the debt. She found herself a little place & even talked to my broker about it, but she is stuggling under her low income for the time being.
The youngest. She has also been working for the same length of time as her sister. She was 8 when she drew her first wages. Same deal as her sister.
Fast forward, she also has a healthy nest egg, although it is still some time before she can access it.
For the last 10 years, they have participated in talks at home about investing, saving, good debt/bad debt, wants verses needs etc. They know that a car (which is what most teens aspire to) is a total waste of money. They also know the difference between positive/negative gearing & understand tax deductability & a bit about depreciation.
It has not all been plain sailing. Neither of them wanted to save at first, the youngest still sometimes gets cranky that she can't spend it on whatever she wants, but they both understand what they have.
The average high school kid is going to come from various different backgrounds. Some have part-time jobs, some don't. Some have Austudy/Youth Allowance, some don't. Some have parents that are long term unemployed, some come from wealthy households. What most of them have in common is that nobody teaches them the basics of how to handle their money.
I believe that the most important thing to teach them is the real basics & it needs to be fun. Especially important for those who come from lower incomes is to teach that ANYONE can get ahead. They just need a few simple tools.
At the end of the day, even if all you acheive is to help guide a handful of them (out of every class) to start saving for their future, & understand the traps that credit cards & interest free loans can be & give them a belief that they can better their own situation, then you have been a huge success.
There is truely some gems written on your site, but they are way too complex at this early stage.
