Little gift, big impact
Looking for a gift with big impact? Help a kid in your life take the first step on a life-long investing journey with a Kids Account or Sharesies Gift.
Get them on their way
The earlier you build a habit, the deeper it’ll be embedded into your life further down the track. When paired with a Kids Account, a Sharesies Gift can give a kid the opportunity to build an investment portfolio over their lifetime. Starting a kid off as an investor now can be a great way to set that habit up for the future!
It can be an absolute nightmare to buy gifts for young kids, especially in a hectic time of year, and especially if you have lots of friends and family. So helping a kid invest, rather than spending time in a toy store, is a great way to save time and stress this year.
Compound returns
We’ve written about compound returns before. By leaving your money invested, you have the opportunity to start to earn returns not just on your initial investment, but on any returns you made along the way.
Let’s say you invested $100, and made a return of 5% on your Portfolio over the course of the year. That means at the end of the year, the value of your investment would be $105. Then, instead of selling some of your investment to turn that $5 gain into cash, you decide to leave the full $105 invested for another year.
If you then earned another 5% return on your investment the following year, the value of your investment would now be $110.25. That's another $5 in gains from your initial $100 invested, and then $0.25 in returns from the $5 gain you made from your first year of investing—or, compound returns!
While $0.25 doesn't look like much, compound returns can stack up in the long term. And kids generally have time on their side.
How do you do it?
Glad you asked—there’s a couple ways to help a kid start investing. One is through a Kids Account. This is a Sharesies account just for kids. You set it up through your Sharesies account, then top up their Wallet and buy and sell investments on their behalf. Any investments you make through a Kids Account is in that kid’s name—it’s their money!
The other way is to buy a Sharesies Gift, which is essentially a gift voucher. The Gift can be redeemed in the kid’s Sharesies Wallet, ready to be invested.
Either way, an investment portfolio is a great gift for any kid in your life. It helps to start conversations about money, and can build great habits.
Help a kid in your life on their investing journey
Get inspired
Choosing an investment strategy that works for you, or a kid in your life, is one way to cultivate habits for the long-term. Whether you favour set-and-forget, or invest amounts you can afford when you can afford to, there’s a range of strategies out there waiting to be explored.
You may also find inspiration in those around you! Rory, a Sharesies investor since 2018, started his journey with the aim of investing for the long-term. To stick to his goal of creating financial freedom for himself and his tamariki, Rory invests regularly and favours diversification. More dad time, less worry time!
Check out our other investor journeys and see if inspiration strikes—especially from those who are keeping kids at the centre of their investment goals. And, don’t forget to always do your due diligence—yep, homework never stops!
Ok, now for the legal bit
Investing involves risk. You aren’t guaranteed to make money, and you might lose the money you start with. We don’t provide personalised advice or recommendations. Any information we provide is general only and current at the time written. Examples outlined are not an indication of future performance. Percentage returns can and do change year to year, and past performance does not guarantee future returns.
