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

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

#291

Post by lurking_swe »

lukan wrote: post #281
sebastiennight wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. T…

I think this really comes down to how a teenager is wired and life circumstances. Some of us made all our close friends in college and dont even live near our hometowns anymore. My high school friendships are all “dead” so to speak.

I think if a teenager is the social type, or they have a positive (non-toxic) friend group, then absolutely - spend the money! It’s an investment in your friends that may or more not pay off.

But some teenagers don’t have much in common with their peers, are bullied in high school, or just want to move on to the “real world” and graduate already. For those kids, invest!

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

#292

Post by fao_ »

bluGill wrote: post #204
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…

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…

[flagged]

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

#293

Post by koakuma-chan »

whoooboyy wrote: post #289
koakuma-chan wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I just checked and McDonald's pays $15 an hour, no? That's more than enough to not starve.

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

#294

Post by tinfoilhatter »

FredPret wrote: post #285
tinfoilhatter wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I am criticizing individuals - individuals who are members of a bloodline that have historically engaged in war profiteering and have been instrumental in running the international central banking cartel. You're right that I didn't mention all Jews, because that would indeed be anti-Semitic.

Sorry but I'm not going to kowtow to your ridiculous logic. It's perfectly fair to lob criticism at bloodlines, and if you had ever opened a history book you would readily understand that.

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

#295

Post by sebastiennight »

triceratops wrote: post #185
danielbarla wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I certainly had the _concept_ of compound interest taught to me at some abstract mathematical level, the application to real life practical financial scenarios was definitely not done [1]. Economics as a whole was an optional subject. I think schools and curriculums could do a whole lot better in representing this important facet of life. More broadly, I often feel that "applying all that math you've learned to…

> the application to real life practical financial scenarios was definitely not done Of course it was. You can't teach compound interest without referring to money or banks. That's the whole point of it. Otherwise it's just multiplication.

It... is just multiplication. And can't talk about GP's experience, but I can tell you that going through scientific schooling and engineering schools in the French system you'll learn exactly how to calculate the math and never have a single example such as mentioned above.

We're here to build bridges, not count stashes of money after all!

You'd probably get those if you went through "economic studies" (which is a different track and where math includes a lot more statistics even in high school).

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

#296

Post by sebastiennight »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #139
koakuma-chan wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are people who don't invest? Do they just keep their retirement savings in cash? I imagine for most people either the government or their employer invests for them.

median emergency savings in the US is $500-600 1 in 5 have $0 50% have enough to cover 3 months of expenses

The math doesn't add up here?

You're saying that $500-600 (the amount you claim 50% of people have saved up, if it's the median) covers 3 months of expenses?

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

#297

Post by yaky »

dangus wrote: post #75

Being encouraged to invest is nice but having the ability to is a massive luxury. I knew I wanted to save a lot for my future and retirement since I was in high school. I didn’t gain any reasonable ability to do so until much later. A much better life skill in my opinion would be to teach about budgeting, how to cook economical meals, how to avoid debt traps and lifestyle inflation.

HN is a very specific and privileged demographic, very far from an average citizen. (of the US at least)

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

#298

Post by lukan »

lurking_swe wrote: post #291
lukan wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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. T…

I think this really comes down to how a teenager is wired and life circumstances. Some of us made all our close friends in college and dont even live near our hometowns anymore. My high school friendships are all “dead” so to speak. I think if a teenager is the social type, or they have a positive (non-toxic) friend group, then absolutely - spend the money! It’s an investment in your friends that may or more not pay…

"or just want to move on to the “real world” and graduate already. For those kids, invest!"

In general sure, it really depends .. so invest in what? It can mean many things, like also saving for the drivers licence/first car to make that move away into a nicer worlds with better opportunities.

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

#299

Post by linsomniac »

nonethewiser wrote: post #241
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…

That's why you shouldn't leave it up to a kid with very little money who quite literally cannot understand the long term impacts of their decisions to invest or not. Instead, put aside something for them. You can even start well before they are 17.

Naw, dawg, Imma try and try to encourage them to get started early and put a little bit away, because it's good for them. I'm acutely afraid of a scenario where they have bad habits and anything I leave them they flush down the toilet because of those bad habits. I'm hoping to leave them plenty, but they need to be in a position to not waste that for it to be worth anything.

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

#300

Post by dottjt »

bluGill wrote: post #204
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…

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…

I think it's actually a bad thing to think about money early on. Because it adds a layer of responsibility which I think takes away from simply enjoying life and focusing on what you might be truly passionate about.

One of the things I hate about my 30s is that I'm focused on money now and it feels like I'm not living the life that I want. It just feels like I'm preparing for death.

Which I'm not saying isn't the sensible thing to do, there's just something inherently managerial about it which doesn't seem intuitive to living a meaningful life.

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