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

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

#281

Post by lukan » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 6:35 PM UTC

sebastiennight wrote: post #278

lukan wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And poor people just should eat cake, I know.. For real, I believe most 17 year olds on this earth do not have the funds to invest in education AND in a retirement fond, so there are choices to be made. (there are also the choices of creating social bonds and investing into activities together, ...)

The root comment was talking about investing 5% of their earnings. If you're making any kind of income at 17 (which admittedly is not everybody) then learning to save+invest a small portion of that can have incredible positive snowball effects beyond the compounding itself. I can't imagine a scenario where at 55 years old, you would miss the 5% of your summer income you invested back in high school. But I can totally…

"I can't imagine a scenario where at 55 years old, you would miss the 5% of your summer income you invested back in high school."

If those 5% were the question of whether to go with the group on a adventure together or not - and you end up alone at 55 years and not invited .. you might have rather invested different back then. But on the other hand I don't think those 5% of earnings with 17 make a difference later.

The only real difference they can make, if they made you start a habit of saving income for important purchases. (But not really fore retirement at that age. But each to his own)

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

#282

Post by sebastiennight » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 6:37 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #277

sebastiennight wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As with many times when we use the word "should" (and you've used it a lot), the perspective you're sharing is deeply influenced by your own cultural background and might not apply to many people reading. A few examples: school loans, considering a house purchase to be a sound investment, purchasing once-in-a-lifetime household items, saving for a wedding (from the age of 17!?) or marriage (not sure what you even mea…

The details matter and are personal I agree. Even if a house isn't right for you, you still need to save for the deposit on an apartment. You still need to buy furnishings for your apartment. You won't even know if a house is right for you until you are mid 20s to 30, so it is probably best to save for a house and if you decide at 30 it isn't right for you roll that money into retirement savings (if a house isn't rig…

You just replaced "buying a house" with "buying an apartment", proving my point about cultural bias :-)

I meant, for many people (especially young ones), taking that same deposit to purchase an investment property (which could be a house or apartment, but has a tenant who lives there rather than being for oneself) can be a better deal than buying for themselves.

In the end, buying a place to live in is very much an emotional choice, which is totally valid. But in some locales and for some lifestyles, being a landlord who pays rent elsewhere can be a better financial decision.

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

#283

Post by Mr_Bees69 » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 6:40 PM UTC

you need to add the meta utf8 tag

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

#284

Post by dingaling » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 6:41 PM UTC

linsomniac wrote: post #102

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…

> and let him pick a couple stocks to put some money into

And yet we complain that corps today are too focused on their market valuation over everything else; customer experience, longevity, worker conditions, R&D are all being neglected in order to make the needle go up.

'Investing' in stocks in order to flip them when the price goes up is feeding this insanity. Teaching kids that this is perfectly rational seems selfish and short-sighted.

Our children should be encouraged to invest into something like bonds which actually help promote economic growth.

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

#285

Post by FredPret » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 6:45 PM UTC

tinfoilhatter wrote: post #274

FredPret wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Standard antisemitic trope

Standard bs defense to prevent any legitimate criticism of Jewish people no matter how reprehensible their actions are. Please spare me. Maybe we should get into what Natalie Rothschild said while being interviewed, about her family's fondness for incest? Or would that be anti-Semtiic as well? What exactly can you say about the Rothschild bloodline (except for praising them) that isn't considered anti-Semitic? Please…

To your credit, your original comment didn't mention all Jews, just made heavy allusions to stereotypes about them. But now you've removed all possible doubt about what you meant.

Criticize individuals all you want, but don't do it by "bloodline", ethnicity, or whether they're a banker or not. Agency lies with the individual.

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

#286

Post by EvanAnderson » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 6:46 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #273

EvanAnderson wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The spiraling price of college in the US today has been questioning the assumption that education has a better ROI.

There are a lot of it depends. If you are going to be a retail worker all your life there is no reason to go to college. A music degree has questionable value on its own, but many people get them understanding that "any degree" is needed for some good jobs and those that find those do well enough (your generals and non-major electives are important). The school matters - Harvard is expensive but the networking can be…

This would be fun to model. Lifetime earnings are higher for those who have more education, but there's potentially decades of servicing a potential mountain of non-dischargeable debt to consider (potentially decreasing post-college investment ability) too.

I don't know the first thing about student loans (interest rates, amortization periods). I never had one. I just search-engined 2025 federal student loan rates and I'm blown away by the interest rates. It looks like avoiding student loans at all costs is the way to go.

I wonder if spending a few years working (especially if your parents are able to continue to house you and pay for health insurance) and contributing to a 529 plan might meaningfully decrease the overall cost, albeit at the "penalty" of starting college later in life (at, say, 22 instead of 18).

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

#287

Post by sebastiennight » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 6:46 PM UTC

sureglymop wrote: post #119

linsomniac wrote: post #102

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…

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…

- Your bank's platform will cost an arm and a leg; Interactive Brokers or Degiro are both available in Switzerland and you will save so much on fees (especially if you only buy and hold ETFs of which Degiro offers many with 0% fees) that it's the equivalent of faster returns on your money.

- There are many "getting started" guides available, I found Mister Money Mustache the most straightforward to my liking, but you're golden as long as you understand a couple of basics: 1. investing a high% of your income is more important than chasing returns (you seem to be there already), 2. don't trade, just buy the whole market (you mentioned Vanguard, they offer a "total market" ETF), 3. look for the lowest fees as long as you hold title to your shares (IB and Degiro do this ; eToro does not so if they sink, you're SOL), 4. don't time the market, just buy now and sit on it as it grows

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

#288

Post by roberdam » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 6:47 PM UTC

sebastiennight wrote: post #280

linsomniac wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've made a similar deal with my kids: Around 7 years ago I set up a "kid retirement" plan for them, where they couldn't touch the money until they were 18, but any money they put in I would match, and I'd also give them 10% APY with monthly compounding. My daughter aged out of it a couple years ago, she got something in the $100 range. Her brother still has a 18 months left, and I just recently rolled his over into…

I hope that @roberdam reads this and implements those into his PWA. OP, enabling: - deposits (and withdrawals) - a matching logic (which we can do manually I guess, by doubling the deposit amount) - and correct calculation of compounding (if I had $100 for 11 months and add $100 in december, I shouldn't see the value compound $200 for the whole year) would be great. Bonus points if there was some kind of password (ev…

Excellent suggestions! For now, what I do is update the amount every time there's a deposit or withdrawal, and I set the initial date to the day of the withdrawal or deposit.

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

#289

Post by whoooboyy » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 6:51 PM UTC

koakuma-chan wrote: post #131

whoooboyy wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Incredible HN post. I'm hoping it's because you are from a country where people are generally well taken care of. Yes, there are people who don't invest. Where do they keep their retirement savings? 40-50% of Americans, at least, simply have no retirement savings! Most people in America aren't earning enough to put away a meaningful amount for retirement. It's going to be grim as boomers and millennials hit retiremen…

And it doesn't occur to them that they will need money when they're old and can't work? Incredible.

I.... they are dealing with systemic poverty. Being poor is expensive. They absolutely know they need to save, but if the choice is "starve to death today but save for retirement OR don't die, but don't save for retirement" most people are going to choose the latter.

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

#290

Post by whoooboyy » Thu, Oct 30, 2025, 6:54 PM UTC

koakuma-chan wrote: post #270

bilekas wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. Or that there's no standard minimum wage, or income protection if something does go wrong. Student debt is crippling to people in itself never mind hospital events. That's so many people you should think "something must b…

> It shouldn't be though, if you pay taxes, the government should be there for you in an emergency when it comes to health. As far as I know in the US your employer provides health insurance?

Oh. No. Not in most jobs. Many jobs do provide some health care.

If you are working many jobs in the US you get no health care. You have to pay for it yourself. Even jobs that provide it you still need to pay for it. The employer basically pays a portion of the insurance bill. Good employers pay a lot, bad employers pay none.

Then you have deductibles. The amount you have to pay out of pocket every year before insurance does anything. If you have a ten thousand dollar deductible, insurance only kicks in at $10,001 and beyond.