Money secret No. 28: Support the kids in your life!

Giving is a part of the plan and a component of our financial behavior. By giving in every conceivable way, we create a positive flow that has a positive impact on our lives.

For all the good things that have happened to you in life, you can give something back, and one way to do so is by passing on your knowledge and helping others get started. If there are any children in your life (your own or those of friends, maybe nieces or nephews), then one of the best things you can do is to set them up with an investment account. Children belong to the part of the population that can take on higher risk in investing, going off the assumption that these investments should help them when they’re older. That is to say, they have a pretty long time horizon. For example, if you open an account for a kid when they’re born, with the goal of them being able to access it when they’re an adult, the investment horizon for them starts out at 18 years. This means the money in this account can be put in more risky investments.

So, if there’s a young person in your life, draw up a monthly savings plan that the parents, grandparents, godparents, or whoever else will pay into every month for the child, and see to it that the savings get invested right into a portfolio of ETFs. A nice sum of money will gather in the investment account, and this money will really benefit the child later in life – whether it’s to pay for education, put down a deposit on an apartment, or even to have equity in their first home one day.

Money secret No. 28: You can help others by passing on your knowledge. Start with the kids in your life – an investment account can really mean a lot for them one day.