Sun Aug 04 2024, by Tyler Gardner

Three Vital Lessons on Money and Investing to Teach Your Child

If I could teach my child only three things about money and investing, here's what I would teach them.

I'm Tyler, I'm a former financial advisor and portfolio manager, and now I make financial content for free so that you don't have to pay for it.

1. Delay Gratification

Number one, I would teach them to delay their gratification. Every single dollar they spend at 10 years old is equivalent to $30 at retirement. I know, this might be a tough one to teach a 10-year-old, but I'm gonna try.

2. Understand the True Cost

Number two, understanding the true cost of something. An item in a store doesn't just cost what's on the price tag; it also costs you whatever experience you forfeited because you spent that money. So the cost of going to that baseball game, it's not just the ticket, the popcorn, the soda; it's also the cost of seven hours of your life that you could have spent on literally anything that you could dream up.

3. The Importance of Low-Cost Investing

And number three, I would teach them that nine is less than ten. If my child learns to invest in low-cost index funds on their own, they might get an average 10% return throughout their lifetime. But if my child gives that money to a financial advisor and has that advisor invest in those same funds, well now my child will get a 9% return on average for the rest of their lives. And over a 50-year investing timeline, that's the difference between setting my child up for generational wealth and setting their advisor up for generational wealth.

And if any of this is helpful, like and follow, and I'll keep trying to get you and your child one step closer to where they need to be.

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