As I jumped up from the dinner table last night to jot down something that Nathan had just said about all the extra packaging that things come in (he’d rather save the money than have it spent on stuff that gets thrown out), John announced that he was glad he was not blog worthy.  My poor kids have to put up with a lot in the name of teaching  kids financial literacy.

Actually, John is very blog worthy.  I’ve just been focusing on the kids.  So this one’s for him.

As it so happens, later that night Ryan was talking about his investments.  He has $1500 in his savings account and I had mentioned earlier in the day that he might want to think about taking some of it and investing it.  He already owns shares in Chipotle, Costco, and Netflix and has a Vanguard 500 Index account.

John is a very deliberate thinker.  The first thing he asked Ryan was about his upcoming car purchase.  Ryan will be in the market for a car next year. 

“You need to consider your time line,”  John told him.  “You don’t want to put money that you’re going to need soon in an investment that’s meant for long term.  Like the stock market.”

Ryan responded with, “I don’t want to invest in CDs and bonds.  You don’t get much back from those.”

He’s right.  I’m not sure those could keep up with inflation right now.  But it is a secure investment and he’d get a little more than if he kept his money in his savings account.  When John realized, though, that Ryan was leaning a little towards choosing another stock he reminded Ryan that he’s taking on risk and will need to do his research.

John also talked to Ryan about balancing his portfolio.  “You don’t want to have all of your money in the stock market.  It’s a matter of percentages.  You need to figure out what percent of your money you want in stocks, what percent in mutual funds, and so on.”

This weekend the two of them are going to take a look at Ryan’s portfolio.  I don’t know if Ryan will, indeed, put some of his money into the market.  But I do know that if he does, I will follow suit.  So far, Ryan’s investments have done very well by him.