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Show HN: In a single HTML file, an app to encourage my children to invest

roberdam.com

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Re: Show HN: In a single HTML file, an app to encourage my children to invest

#231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

features coming with the next update, meanwhile they can withdraw at any time

> meanwhile they can withdraw at any time How does the withdraw work? You manually reset the date to today and the amount to what it was last time you saw it minus the withdrawal?

For now it works like this until I add withdrawals and deposits.

Re: Show HN: In a single HTML file, an app to encourage my children to invest

#232
Tangentially i can't help but notice a pattern. Generation1 says "build more homes", then they build them and convince Generation2 to invest despite ever climbing real estate prices. Then the internet happens and Generation2 says "build more companies". They build them , and proceed to convince Generation3 to invest in those companies despite ever climbing stock values. Seems like these trends run in cycles

Re: Show HN: In a single HTML file, an app to encourage my children to invest

#233
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most states require financial literacy courses to graduate What's a state? Pretty sure we don't have those here. Even if it was true for America (probably not), it certainly isn't true for the entire rest of the world. Maybe they should be teaching Geography.

My mistake, it's just such a common trope in the US I didn't realize it was a universal complaint. It is true for US incidentally, people generally don't remember it because a) the learning and real world practice are too far removed b) people often are poor with finances regardless of knowledge.

All good.

I think it's common everywhere to be honest.

Here in the UK there's never been financial literacy taught at a national scale that I'm aware, there certainly wasn't when I was in school, albeit that was some decades ago now, and from what I've seen of my nephews/nieces it still isn't.

My children are still too young to worry about the minutiae, but we're already trying to teach them about income/outgoings and saving even at their middle single-digit ages.

Investing is something I can't say I'm extremely comfortable with the details of even at my advanced age besides the simple things like "I have a pension" and "I have a LISA".

I definitely think there's room for some self-service tools to aid in teaching these things to our kids from an early age.

Re: Show HN: In a single HTML file, an app to encourage my children to invest

#234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Rest assured it usually isn't their choice. People choose to marry, have kids, and buy a house.

Your comments make me think you've never seen hardships in your life that weren't self-afflicted. Life can be cruel even if you've made great plans and took all the precautions you could think of. Illnesses, accidents, the lack of a social net because your country was set up that way, crime, the list goes on.

Illnesses and accidents are exactly the things you need savings for, and aren't really relevant here because they don't prevent you from saving until and after they happen. The issue appears to be that 50% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck and have no savings? I can't imagine how this could be anything other than them just spending money on shit they don't need.

And yes, I am assuming you live in a developed country. I have Ukranian citizenship and right now the Ukrainian government is abducting men who are over 24 years old and sends them to death. If you live in a country like that, true, you shouldn't worry about investing because you don't even have basic human rights.

Re: Show HN: In a single HTML file, an app to encourage my children to invest

#235
When I started working at 24, a friend of mine (a few years older than me) asked me if our company had a 401(K) and what was the match.

I was confused. What's this gobbledygook? So I asked around and got him the answers, and he responded with: max out your 401(K). Just do it. And do not ever think about taking money out of it.

So I followed his advice. At that time, the ~$5500 cut in paycheck (my gross was around $35K, IIRC) stung a little. I was single, footloose and fancyfree, and those extra few hundred dollars a month would have been fun to have. But I stuck to his advice.

Today, almost 30 years later, thanks to that, I have a nice nest egg and don't have to worry about retirement (modulo catastrophic illnesses, of course).

So recently my friends' kids started working, and I gave them the same advice: Max out your 401(K), pick a Vanguard Target Retirement fund, and forget about it. If your place offers a "Mega Back Door" option, use it to the fullest extent possible. And if your company has a HDHCP, put funds in your HSA too.

We have a lot of avenues to save these days. Make full use of them.

Re: Show HN: In a single HTML file, an app to encourage my children to invest

#236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say that now but as a young person with a decent income and no family or many responsibilities it's hard to even know where to start. And I'm not even talking about what to invest in, I'm already confused at which platform/bank/whatever to do it through. The "meta", if you will. I just want to invest the 70% of my salary I don't need every month and not think about it for 40 years but how? Maybe an important deta…

My understanding is that, if the market generally continues on the rate of return it's averaged throughout its history (that is, if you're not a doomer), then the single most important thing is showing up to play. People who try to time the market or wait for a perfect time or pick the exact right blend of stocks, on average, don't do as well as people who pick a boring index or mutual fund and forget about it for 40…

> People who try to time the market

If you have doubts about the long-term __existence__ of the market, then investing in the first place necessitates "timing the market" since you'll need to determine when to sell before the panic sell-off which inevitably comes before the global minimum is reached.

Mind you, I'm not talking about figuring out whether or not to "hodl" through local minima. I'm talking about rolling into a different store of value (e.g., cattle, crops, ammunition) before the whole thing goes up in smoke.

Re: Show HN: In a single HTML file, an app to encourage my children to invest

#237

There's an awful lot of negativity here, but as someone who's 55 and has earned a good wage since I was 17, I really wish I had taken investing more seriously from the very beginning. While I knew of compound interest, I really didn't understand it until like a decade ago. If I'd started putting 5% of my money into a target retirement plan from 17, I'd be retired now. As it is I'm not doing badly, but I really wish I…

Sometimes I feel like I started investing late at 26. Already, six years into the best decade for compounding in your life. But such was the power of compounding that I had reached a substantial net worth by age 35. So even just nine years can make such a tremendous difference even into later ages. It's never too late to sock money away.

Saving is follows the same advice as for planting a tree.

The best time to plant a tree is ten years ago.

The second best time is now.

Re: Show HN: In a single HTML file, an app to encourage my children to invest

#238
post #95
post #90

At the point with investment I was lost. Children should learn to be patient (saving money) and prepare for bad situations (saving money). That’s enough. When older we can teach them what capitalism considers as investment. Capitalism is a longer word for greed. Money doesn’t work. Employees do. Customers pay. Both suffer to make greedy persons rich. Give them a piggy bank. Teaches the concept of preparation.

I mostly agree but greed is a part of human nature is it not?

Capitalism itself is a rather modern idea around 1800. And greed is maybe rooted in human nature, within the need to keep a buffer of food.

But we’ve brains and are social entities. I don’t think greed is necessity. But greed of other harm our needs. And we need to get greedy to get enough?

Examples: I want a nice bicycle. I need small house or nice flat. I enjoy good food from time to. I’m rather sure I don’t need a super-yacht, no swimming pool and no villa. I think stuff which I cannot keep myself clean is too much. If I cannot keep it clean myself it was greed?

But we’ve big dreams?

For the big dreams I would probably consider a cooperative society. These airliners are so expensive and suffer from not being used. Sharing them would be nice? Like…like owning airline stocks. Without the enforcement to gain money. Maybe some people enjoy flying it around, other maintaining it and others care about safety and passengers. Others maybe want fly to the moon. And others enjoy ships. Maybe sharing them deliberately makes sense?

Re: Show HN: In a single HTML file, an app to encourage my children to invest

#239

There's an awful lot of negativity here, but as someone who's 55 and has earned a good wage since I was 17, I really wish I had taken investing more seriously from the very beginning. While I knew of compound interest, I really didn't understand it until like a decade ago. If I'd started putting 5% of my money into a target retirement plan from 17, I'd be retired now. As it is I'm not doing badly, but I really wish I…

Investing for retirement at 17 is a bad idea! At 17 you should still be thinking about investing in education - the right education investment today will pay back far more than any other monitory investment. There are of course bad education investments, and some are not willing to study even more (or not able to pass a good education course), in that case retirement might be the best investment you can make, but it…

>Investing for retirement at 17 is a bad idea! At 17 you should still be thinking about investing in education

Why would you assume they are mutually exclusive? You can just do both.

Re: Show HN: In a single HTML file, an app to encourage my children to invest

#240

When I started working at 24, a friend of mine (a few years older than me) asked me if our company had a 401(K) and what was the match. I was confused. What's this gobbledygook? So I asked around and got him the answers, and he responded with: max out your 401(K). Just do it. And do not ever think about taking money out of it. So I followed his advice. At that time, the ~$5500 cut in paycheck (my gross was around $35…

> We have a lot of avenues to save these days.

Consider investing your time, not just your money. In other words, do careful research, start a business, then put your labor into offering a product or service that fills a need, instead of simply working for someone else. If you fail, you'll still learn a lot for another try. And if you succeed, the payoff can be much larger and faster than anything else you might attempt.

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