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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

#341

Post by singleshot_ »

bruckie wrote: post #340

I run a "Bank of Dad", tracked in a spreadsheet for my kids. They can choose to "invest" their money with me or not. To make investing meaningful for them, I pay 10% interest per month, up to a $50 balance. To avoid bankrupting myself—and to encourage them to get a real investment account when the time comes—the rate drops as the balance increases, similar to progressive tax brackets. By the time they get to $1000 ba…

These kids are going to be so mad at how low interest rates are at actual banks that I wonder if this is ultimately going to teach them to borrow rather than save. I guess it’s the same thing, really: they’re learning the time value of money either way.

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

#342

Post by bluGill »

ryandrake wrote: post #333
dottjt wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 sen…

The earliest years of your earning life contribute overwhelmingly more to your final retirement figure than your later years. Anyone lucky enough to have a job in their teens that gives them disposable income after each paycheck really, really, really should be saving and investing. Like OP, if I was more serious about investing in my early years, I would be retired by now. One can lead a meaningful, enjoyable life w…

> The earliest years of your earning life contribute overwhelmingly more to your final retirement figure than your later years.

for most the amount we earn before about 25 is so little that even everything saved at the best return is insignifitant inretirement. at 25 a small percentage of your income saved becomes meaningful, but you are likely to earn enough more at 35 that the amount you can save then totals to more

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

#343

Post by dottjt »

ryandrake wrote: post #333
dottjt wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 sen…

The earliest years of your earning life contribute overwhelmingly more to your final retirement figure than your later years. Anyone lucky enough to have a job in their teens that gives them disposable income after each paycheck really, really, really should be saving and investing. Like OP, if I was more serious about investing in my early years, I would be retired by now. One can lead a meaningful, enjoyable life w…

> One can lead a meaningful, enjoyable life while also considering their finances.

This is where I disagree. I think there's a certain amount of naivety required to pursue meaningful things. There's so much in life that makes no financial sense that creates meaning. The moment you start having to think sensibly from a financial perspective, is when so many of these things no longer make sense.

Once you're plugged into the system there's almost no turning back.

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

#344

Post by singleshot_ »

whoooboyy wrote: post #128
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.

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…

More than half of Americans are net debtors, with a negative net worth.

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

#345

Post by koakuma-chan »

whoooboyy wrote: post #325
koakuma-chan wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Median rent value in Seattle is $2300/month if you are looking for a one bedroom, a little cheaper if you are looking at a studio. Minimum wage here is $21/hr. The first quartile for rent is $1600. Assuming you work full time, you are making $3360 a month, less taxes. That means that even if you get the bottom 25% of rents, over half your take home pay goes to rent. Then we need health care, food, taxes, transportati…

I rent a room. But to be fair when I first came to Canada and was told by a local "of course you won't get to have a whole apartment all to yourself" my mind was blown away.

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

#346

Post by brailsafe »

triceratops wrote: post #191
recursive wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you send your money to invest? What is a stock? This is the type of information missing.

> Where do you send your money to invest? If they had taught you that in high school 10 or 20 years years ago, it would be outdated by now. People used to save in savings accounts. Then 401ks. Then individual brokerage accounts with index funds. Now crypto or whatever is hot using some fintech app. > What is a stock? That's fair. It can come up in basic economics but not always.

> it would be outdated by now.

It's way easier to update the tail end of knowledge you have and practices you've learnt than to start from scratch when you have no time.

Likewise, if the only stuff we could teach in grade school was stuff that would never become outdated, then we wouldn't even be able to teach more than the highest level of recent history, math foundations, super basic geology and physics, which is a pathetically low bar. Things change, it's the way it is, we should have a higher standard.

Kids won't otherwise get early exposure to learning how to start a business unless their parents did so, or investing unless their parents did, which means they probably had a surplus of resources at home and the cycle of a widening class divide continues.

The most powerful type of compound interest is early exposure to anything; an idea, a sport, money, business, computers, art. If your parents did it, you're off to a great start, but if they didn't, you're automatically set back at least a decade if not two for any of those, and public school should aim to smooth out those bumps.

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

#347

Post by whatevertrevor »

dottjt wrote: post #343
ryandrake wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The earliest years of your earning life contribute overwhelmingly more to your final retirement figure than your later years. Anyone lucky enough to have a job in their teens that gives them disposable income after each paycheck really, really, really should be saving and investing. Like OP, if I was more serious about investing in my early years, I would be retired by now. One can lead a meaningful, enjoyable life w…

> One can lead a meaningful, enjoyable life while also considering their finances. This is where I disagree. I think there's a certain amount of naivety required to pursue meaningful things. There's so much in life that makes no financial sense that creates meaning. The moment you start having to think sensibly from a financial perspective, is when so many of these things no longer make sense. Once you're plugged int…

> There's so much in life that makes no financial sense that creates meaning. The moment you start having to think sensibly from a financial perspective, is when so many of these things no longer make sense.

I get the sentiment, but it implies the opposite of your conclusion.

Since so many things make no sense from a financial point of view, the only sensible strategy is to break free of the financial constraints as soon as possible. Money cannot buy you happiness, but it can buy you the freedom to pursue it.

Retire early to give yourself the best cushion (and best possible chance) to pursue meaningful things, without the everlooming sword of making ends meet. The added benefit of life experience to filter out pursuits that only look meaningful on the surface, is a nice side-effect of this strategy.

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

#348

Post by dragonwriter »

singleshot_ wrote: post #344
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…

More than half of Americans are net debtors, with a negative net worth.

> More than half of Americans are net debtors, with a negative net worth.

Median household net worth is around $193k, not negative. Maybe this is true on an individual basis because there a bunch of, say, young debtors and elderly parents who have transferred their positive assets living in households with working adults with more positive wealth than the youngsters and elders combined have net debt, but...

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

#349

Post by ryandrake »

tinfoilhatter wrote: post #329
FredPret wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Criticizing individuals because they're part of a bloodline / ethnicity is: - the exact opposite of criticizing individuals; you're really just going after the group - the definition of prejudice - the foundation of most (all?) giant human catastrophes like the Holocaust, the various communist land reforms, the crusades, and all sorts of horrible events I'm a conservative, but I have to say this idea of not being pre…

So when authors of history-related works criticize or make remarks about bloodlines such as the Hapsburgs or the Medicis or the Colonnas are you equally as outraged as when it involves a bloodline of Jewish people? If I navigate to - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy_of_the_Rothschild_fa... - every section of the page mentions the family being involved in banking. Am I stereotyping members of the Rothschild blo…

I think the word "bloodline" has gotten people wrapped around the axle. You could have just said "the Rothschild family" and been in the clear. "Bloodline" veers a little close to smearing an entire ethnicity over the actions of one relatively small family. I'm sure it's not what you meant, but as soon as you start talking about the contents of people's blood, people's ears start perking up and looking for bigotry.

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

#350

Post by lucb1e »

triceratops wrote: post #122
Jommi wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the issue is your local currency will lose its value over time

Is there a (government-issued) currency that doesn't?

It's not an inherent feature, but they steer it in such a way so, no, there isn't (at least not for long), unless someone would make a good case for it at some point in the future

The interesting question would be what their currency, where this 11% is offered, typically loses year-on-year

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