Child #1 has been asking about buying shares. It's made me think about restricting his YouTube viewing privileges, but discussions on my parenting ability should be saved for another day please!
But, he may just care about doing it and may make something work. So I'd like to support his enthusiasm if possible. Then I can retire early and buy a mansion.
I have been wondering about him trial buying some shares, but not sure how. Spreadsheet might work, but I'm not sure I can set something up for him or take account of buy/sell prices or fees.
So, is there an online sandbox thing where people/youths can try out investment strategies? I'm ok with signing me up for something and him using it, but again it's hard to find something effective by just Google as most of the stuff that comes up screams scam.
You are only a terrible parent if the child is useless at it.
Otherwise a genius...
If you search for Fantasy Share trading there are various options similar to fantasy football leagues.
Some you can even win some cash with.
telegraph has one and so does the london stock exchange.
eToro has a virtual mode but not sure how child-friendly/proof it is
Child #1 has been asking about buying shares. It's made me think about restricting his YouTube viewing privileges, but discussions on my parenting ability should be saved for another day please!
What age is Child #1? There are a lot worse things he could be getting intrigued about online! Presumably he's of the belief that buying shares is a road to riches. It will do him no harm to understand that it might be - but transaction costs and human effort mean getting rich quick is actually hard work.
How old is the child?
are they wanting to make money or play?
My youngest started one of the online simulators, I think etoro, at the start of covid age 12. He turned 50k starting sum into over 250k in the intervening years. Some investments were punts and others well researched. The only worry is now he thinks he is great at it and an easy way to make money. He managed to buy nvidea very early and then sell at the right time which accounted for quite a chunk of his earnings. Also not sure of the ethics of him making a load of money from war in Ukraine. Certainly raised some discussion points. The real plus points are he reads the ft and takes an interest in world news and has helped direct him for A level choices
He's approaching 15. I initially thought it would be a good idea to learn how to fail (I sold RR the week they went up by 30%!) but it's also useful to think about margins being made. All in a gentle way.
Thanks for the pointers. I will have a hunt.
The real plus points are he reads the ft and takes an interest in world news
Poor kid 🙁
I think its good for him to get involved with a careful hand. Maybe through a stocks and shares isa? limit him to what he could invest in and give him some pocket money to do so. Itll give him the chance of a nest egg when hes older.
Id personally stay away from the apps. Its essentially gambling and dangerous imo.
Pretty sure Interactive Investor has a dummy option....
It's been a while since I used it but investopedia has a good simulator. You can set up your own competitions, inviting whoever you want and it'll do you a little league table. You can decide on starting funds, fees and the like. It's US focussed but that's probably ok if he's been consuming American YouTube content anyway.
The real plus points are he reads the ft and takes an interest in world news
Poor kid 🙁
he’s a gifted mathematician and is interested in economics. Not sure that’s such a problem. But carry on judging if that’s your choice
Is there any harm in letting him have a real ISA account and having his xmas/birthday/savings to play with? It seems like a classic lesson - only invest what you can afford to lose, don't borrow to do it.
I'm not sure whether transaction fees/minimum charges start eating up a disproportionate amount if you're only playing with £500 to start with. That might be the potential issue.
There are people who make a living trading on their own account. It's not like betting on horses/football/fruit machines and while you could argue there is definitely a degree of insider trading it's not all loaded in the house's favour - it's ultimately about information and taking an intelligent view based on research you can give yourself an edge. (or at least learn that actually you can't to any great extent and you're better off with an index fund)
It would be kind of infuriating to put a load of time in and make a load of virtual money when you could have done it for real.
I would encourage anybody to study, follow and even speculate on "proper" shares and commodities.
But there are so many dodgy day trading, fx trading and other sites that seem to me to be just another name for gambling. As andybrad mentioned. I was initially intrigued when I saw the "Trade Nation" logo on the sleeves of Aston Villa shirts, thinking that night be a place to look for my carpentry supplies...
And worse than that are the sites that are just a front for crooks punting their own "penny shares" who make sure they get out just prior to the crash.
Hmmm, some very good points in there. Thanks everyone.
I think it's a good idea if done properly/carefully - so many people grow up financialy illeterate.
Trading212 do a test account so you can play at building a 'real' portfolio of ETFs or whatever with 'play money' maybe others do too.
One lesson though is avoiding trying to 'game' the market by investing in volatile stuff and trying to buy in a dip and sell on a high on a frequent basis... and learn that slower, safer returns are the better way to build up funds over longer time periods.
One lesson though is avoiding trying to 'game' the market by investing in volatile stuff and trying to buy in a dip and sell on a high on a frequent basis... and learn that slower, safer returns are the better way to build up funds over longer time periods.
How many 15 yr olds have you met that are in it for the long game? especially when playing with fake money.
I got asked a lot (when I worked at a bank that specialised in share trading) by people what they should be investing in and whether NFTs were something they should get into. It was always an easy answer for me: I work in the part of the bank that does not deal with money and why would you want to invest in something that is not phsical available to you?
On a more relevant note, trading can take time and even having a small interest in it can mean you need to take more time during the day to make trades than you really want to. Also, if a bank offers trading, they'll want either money or a percentage of the trade, so small trades are going to eat up your capital quite quick. That said, having relatively narge numbers of stocks in relatively few places does leave you exposed.
15 you say? How about meeting him halfway and getting an account for him on a fantasy trading platform and asking for some sort of monthly report on gains vs. losses and investments. It will give you a good idea what sort of thing he is investing in and could get him more engaged in longer-term (i.e. not going super-volatile) investments.
One lesson though is avoiding trying to 'game' the market by investing in volatile stuff and trying to buy in a dip and sell on a high on a frequent basis... and learn that slower, safer returns are the better way to build up funds over longer time periods.
How many 15 yr olds have you met that are in it for the long game? especially when playing with fake money.
Well I guess the kid could put a load of fake money into very volitile funds- S&P500 might be an interesting one - I reckon that will be all over the place for the next few years due to a certain Orange dictator!!!
...so he can experience:
Any talk of a "monthly report" is by definition short-term and angled towards volatility. Is he thinking of *trading* or *investing*?
At 15 I was becoming financially literate (I even did economics o-level) but I certainly wasn't buying and selling my own shares, will brokers even deal with under-18s?
Keep in mind that there's a reason gambling companies offer free trials, and that's what these trading companies are.
There are people who make a living trading on their own account. It's not like betting on horses/football/fruit machines and while you could argue there is definitely a degree of insider trading it's not all loaded in the house's favour - it's ultimately about information and taking an intelligent view based on research you can give yourself an edge. (or at least learn that actually you can't to any great extent and you're better off with an index fund)
It's exactly the same as betting on the horses/football. That entire paragraph is exactly the same argument that professional gamblers make. Markets such as betfair work in a similar way to day trading as there's money to be made by predicting how the market will move rather than actual results.
Trading121 do the virtual trading thing but I'm not sure if you can access it without setting up a fully fledged account.
Its worth a look, you could create one and let him fill his boots.
I very quickly learnt that day trading wasnt for me, lost 50% of my virtual portfolio in about a week 😀
There are people who make a living trading on their own account. It's not like betting on horses/football/fruit machines and while you could argue there is definitely a degree of insider trading it's not all loaded in the house's favour - it's ultimately about information and taking an intelligent view based on research you can give yourself an edge. (or at least learn that actually you can't to any great extent and you're better off with an index fund)
It's exactly the same as betting on the horses/football. That entire paragraph is exactly the same argument that professional gamblers make. Markets such as betfair work in a similar way to day trading as there's money to be made by predicting how the market will move rather than actual results.
Indeed.
Thats why I wont touch Forex or Crypto, or even buy individual stocks, as oposed to funds...it's far to risky to put any serious cash into... yes you might get lucky and buy in a slump and sell on a peak, but the odds of that are...questionable. You may as well go to a casino and play roulette.
Christ, you lot know how to suck the fun out of a kid playing with virtual money on a virtual share portfolio.
I did economics o level and had a v enthusiastic teacher who ran a share dealing game. I loved it, passed o and a level, and really enjoy it still. With sipps and isa s, it really should be encouraged. So go for it.
A mate of mine makes reckless investment decisions based on no research, I ve learnt more from his actions than anything else.
