Something that is often forgotten in the personal finance field is that young kids have a massively long time horizon. The finance industry tends to ignore the compounding capability between ages 0 and 20, only to think of people as savers once they start working.
Sadly, this is detrimental to children. Because young children have such a long time horizon, a fairly small amount of savings can go a long way due to the benefits of compounding. Effectively, savings and investments made during childhood can give a child a massive financial head start.
Because young children have such a long time horizon, a fairly small amount of savings can go a long way due to the benefits of compounding.
So why is this cohort ignored?
The personal finance industry – made up of advisors and asset managers – earn fees on dollars that come in the next quarter. The larger those dollars the larger the fees. So it doesn’t pay to provide advice to people with small account sizes. I’m hoping this article can help fill the void.
The following idea starts even earlier than high school, is easy to implement, financially feasible and doesn’t depend on a child’s ability to find work. Frankly, anyone can do this and help give their child/grandchild a massive financial head start.
Most newborns have four grandparents. If each grandparent contributes a manageable $25 per month into an investment account earning 7%, the child would have accumulated $51,430 by age 20. Imagine what a 20 year old could (responsibly) do with this money: pay college tuition, make a down payment on a property.
But why would the grandparents fund the account alone? What if the parents also each contributed $25 per month? In this case, the child would have accumulated $77,145 by age 20. Just that additional $50 per month results in a massive increase in value. This alone gives the child a massive financial head start.
Let’s say the child at age 20 pretends this money doesn’t exist.
What if at age 20 the child opted to leave that money invested until retirement without making any additional contributions?
By age 65 the child would have accumulated $1,620,227. Of course, this doesn’t account for a higher cost of living down the road, but no matter how you look at it $1.6 million is a huge sum of money. Especially considering the child never had to invest a penny.
Of course, like most of us, the child would likely contribute to his own investment portfolio. What if – after receiving the portfolio at age 20 – the child continued to contribute $150 per month until age 65? By age 65 the child would have accumulated $2,153,876!
Time is on a newborn child’s side. Unfortunately, that time is typically wasted. An extra 20 years of compounding early in a child’s life can add massive amounts of financial wealth for little upfront investment. So if you or someone you know is about to have a baby or already has a young child, share this with them.
