STILL trying to see what these things do - one of the things that kept me from investing when I was young was just how damned hard it was, unless it was just a savings account, which nowadays doesn't pay anything. As a teenager, my entire investment portfolio consisted of stocks bought for me by my Dad with money sent from my grandfather.
Is anyone familiar with these - or other means - to encourage my children to save for their future?
When my daughter was born, I planted an asparagus patch for her - about 400 roots. By the time she was 3, the asparagus was ready to start picking. I took her out there and showed her how to pick it. Then she would take it down to the store and sell it, knowing she had to put the money in the bank to save it. When she was about 7 years old, I had her pick a stock to invest in. She picked Hershey. We had $50 come out of her savings account every month to invest in Hershey with all dividends reinvested. That was in 2007. Today she has more than 150 shares of Hershey stock valued at more than $20,000. She has other stocks in her portfolio, 8 total, so she has not consistently put money in Hershey since 2007, but she has consistently had money coming out of her savings account on a monthly basis investing in stocks. She has done this with no broker, only using direct stock purchase plans and dividend reinvestment plans. 20 years later, she is not picking as much asparagus but she does save on a consistent and regular basis, taking about 10% of her paycheck to invest in the stock market.
Having said that, I will invite you to learn about our investment club, a group of 10-15 adults who gather once a month to discuss the stock market and pool our monies and then decide where to invest as a group. The club's main purpose is to teach every day people how to wisely invest in the stock market without the expensive advisory fees.
Otherwise, you can start with these websites investing directly in the stock market with as little as $25/month. I suggest using these sites for direct stock purchase plans vs using robin hood/fidelity/schwaab/etc. One of the differences is with the direct stock purchase/dividend reinvestment plans, your dividends are invested automatically to buy more stock, vs the free online trading accounts where the dividends just go into your account as cash money. The key is reinvestment of dividends and monthly contributions in quality stocks regardless of whether the market is up or down.
us.astfinancial.com
www.shareowneronline.com
dsppwizard.broadridge.com
Happy investing. Feel free to contact me if you want to talk further. I'm no expert but have been investing since 1992.
