At what age did you start thinking about investing? Is it when you started college? Maybe its after you started your career. What about high school? Maybe, but not likely. Last year I was asked to be a guest speaker of a class of high school students at Carbondale Community High School. Before I came, I had the teacher take a poll of the students on the top five reasons why they think they should invest. The overachievers that theywere, they gave me their top six reasons. Here are their top six reasons, and their reasoning behind them. I think you’ll crack a smile on a few.
1. Turn a Profit, or in Their Words, “Make Some Money.
Can’t argue with that, can you? Sure, having an income to sustain you through retirement is the driving force to why most people invest, but the only way to achieve that is making money, right? The students were just a little more direct with their logic. I can always appreciate that.
2. Retirement.
I asked the kids how they thought they were going to have an income when retirement came. One student responded that she expected to get money from her job or her employer when she retired. That led into discussion in talking about pensions, and how pensions have greatly reduced over the years. We then talked about 401k’s and how they have evolved. I made it clear that it was on them to coose their own investments and take charge of their financial destiny.
I then was able to bring a copy of my most recent Social Security statement, and showed them how much I would expect to receive if I retired at the age of 62, 67, and 70. I think it was a real eye opener for many, seeing how little that I would expect to receive by waiting 32 plus years, to start drawing my first Social Security check. One students comment of, “That’s it!” was priceless. […]
