I had a mate, who learnt to trade stocks off his dad aged 10, profitable which is amazing as he's 1 of the dumbest people I've ever ever met, tight as a tight ducks ass, if you borrow 10p off him, he'd want it back.
When you go on family vacations.....dispense with the Beach and Disney world. Take him to the NYSE and the CME and say ......'Son, one day this could all be yours and all these men you see on the sidewalk......they can be your biatch if you play your cards right.' Instead of buying him books about Dr Seuss and Tom Sawyer, buy him books from Jesse Livermore and Benjamin Graham. Every kid should know what a bucket shop is by age 7. Introduce him to a Positive Winning Attitude and personal mantras ... Let him know he can be the King, the Rainmaker......Master of the Universe! Reinforce those values of winning and superiority early.........Yeah !.....
Now that's funny teaching a child how to trade. How about making more money so the kid doesn't have to trade? but joking aside, years back my Bond trader buddy was telling me a story about another bond trader friend of his who wasn't doing so well. He would grab a copy of commodity perspective and go visit his little nephew. Sit down with him and ask him what direction he thinks its going. I can't tell you how it worked out, but I can say, adding a fresh pair of eyes to the equation doesn't hurt. Just hide the crayons.
Barns and Nobles has a "daily find" where they offer a variety of books for a couple of dollars each just for one day. Today the book is; Understanding Stocks 2E by Michael Sincere for $1.99 as an ebook (paperback $16.69) Just looking at the preview it looks like an organized way to present the concepts
Thank you for all the responses. It feel like being a part of a "mommies" (in this case, daddies) group and it has provided me with so much more insight with all the truly valuable opinions and advice. I take both with open arms. After thinking about it, based on the various responses, I think that I will have to work really hard to keep this little activity a play thing. Initially, I was going to have 4-5 1 hr sessions, but I feel that those against the idea may have a good point regarding the psychological effects, as well as the lack of interest, should I make it a "work" task (e.g homework). @Handle123 I liked your idea of play. I will use that and will also try and make more connections from the outside world, with attachments to the investment world. E.g. noting the prices at the gas station and correlating it with USO, when going to Chipotle (they love that place), asking him to gauge the good and bad and correlating it with the CMG chart etc. So basically, picking out thing that he is interested in. In regards to charts, I will let him carry on with the "play" of indicators etc. and have him talk to me about his opinions, with me chiming in a little here and there. That keeps the "control" on his side, rather than him feeling suffocated by my input. The whole aim here is not to make him a superstar trader, but more to give him something that he will probably never get from a conventional college education. More over, I do not trust the corporations and the system of our government to "look after" him/any of our kids (an MBA grad now gets paid $35-45K!!!, if they get a job!). He is free to pursue whatever he want (even if the income is low), provided that he is happy and enjoys it. I just want to give him something that he can fall back on and have an understanding of, should he ever need it in time. Pls keep the response coming as you guys are showing me angle that I am not seeing, as well as reinforcing the fact of me spending time with the kids as they grow so fast. Thank you!
I would think this is very much the important and significant issue. I first started learning how to read charts when I was about 11/12. My father does this for a living, but wanted to wait until he was sure I was able to understand the concepts and the theory before looking at the "practice". His perspective was that it might actually be counter-productive to try any earlier than that. I'll be very interested to hear how you get on!
Let's assume you are serious. If the boy is capable of learning how to trade, then, by all means teach him, but let him know that when ever he loses money trading it will come out of his pocket money, or his birthday money, or whatever money you have saved up for him. Get him to watch "The Count" count on Sesame Street over and over, and do not teach him all about the usual stuff in textbooks and on silly websites. Introduce him to Excel, as kids nowadays are very smart and will pick up Excel very quickly if showed correctly, and get him to use Excel for counting. Tell him that when he understands 6+6=0, he will be miles ahead of all to so called adult traders out there who know everything about nothing. Start him with stocks, no leverage, and "TELL HIM" that time is far more important than price! The only time to train a dog is when he is a puppy, as when he gets older he can never be trained, due to all the bad habits he has picked up along the way! J_S