Our middle child wants to become a billionare when she grows up. She must have overheard her dad talking about his golf trip to Ireland to celebrate his friend’s 60th birthday/Father’s Day. They plan to walk several courses and take caddys the first round. My husband sent me this transcript of their conversation under the heading of Funny Things Kids Say.
I have no idea how she has ascertained her hourly rate either but I was pleased to see that she is able to divide!
PickyKidPix: How much does a caddy make?
Her Dad: Around $50.
PickyKidPix: For how many hours?
Her Dad: About 5 hours.
PickyKidPix: 10 bucks an hour?? I need at least $100 because I charge $20 per hour.
Her Dad: Well, you won’t get a job caddying because that’s the going rate. PickyKidPix: OK, so where does the caddy sit on the cart while you’re playing?
Her Dad: Caddies walk and carry the bag.
PickyKidPix: WHAT?? Forget it!
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Is that the picture of your girl? Really cute. And encourage your girl to talk about a business. Ask her if she has any idea how to open a new business catering to boys and girls her age. She might surprise you.
Hi Giora,
Yes, PickyKidPix is older now but that is of her when she was a toddler. She’s is full of ideas to make money right now, starting with learning how to trade stocks. LOL, this one is a handful!
The earlier children learn about investing (not just stock market), the better their chances for better financial future. The second richest American, Warren Buffet, started investing at age 11. I trade the stock market for a living and suggest for you, if I may, to create a paper account of $10,000 and tell your girl to trade in this account for one year and see what will happen to it after one year. You just record what she buy and what she sell (with no real cash involved) and follow her progress. Best even is to do it with her. Best wishes.
Wow Giora! I didn’t know Warren Buffet started at age 11! I’ll tell my daughter. She wants to use her own money so I’m going to let her use a few hundred to start. She’s quite a good saver. I’ll keep you posted on her progress. So far, she’s mad at me for not letting her buy Staples when it was $12 but her account needed to be accessed and I wasn’t ready for her to start. I had lost the password and wanted to move the account to consolidate the brokerage accounts. She’s researching companies now and trying to figure out a good time to buy. Lululemon and Staples are on her list.
Tell her that she’s very young and it’s better to learn to trade without real money for a few months and see how she is doing. If she has less than $1,000 then she only have money to buy one stock, because the commission of buying and selling are relatively high.
Tell her not to buy LULU because it is priced for perfection and any news that women are buying less of LULU clothes will cause the stock to collapse. It might go higher, but it’s too risky to put all her money in this stock.
Nothing special about SPLS, but tell her that she can watch the stock and if it goes back to $12 then she can buy it. No rush. Warren Buffet made money buy waiting for the stocks that he likes to go down and then buy them.
If she and you want I can email you how to analyze stocks in 2-3 minutes just based on the information on Yahoo Finance and go from there.
Thanks Giora,
Yes, she’d love your information on analyzing stocks.
Hi Giora,
Thank you for your on target advice. We have been talking a lot about buying at the right price and how to “figure” that out. More of an art than a science I must say. I am going to teach her how to set the strike price rather than the day trading price and patiently wait. I think she is ok buying just a few shares of stock and tracking it and I’m sure that using her own money will make each loss and gain very memorable. Thank you again for your stock analysis information! I’ll share that with her. School starts tomorrow and it’s her first day of Middle School amid a school scandal so it’s a very exciting time right now!
http://ilovenewton.com/child-porn-charges-newton-math-teacher-steve-chan/ (This was supposed to be her math teacher but now he’s on leave while he faces charges for possessing child pornography. Her older sister had him for math and homeroom so we know him and would never had thought he’d be involved with this! This is the 3rd person in Newton working in our schools and libraries in 2 years.
I want to be a billionaire when I grow up too! 🙂
Hi Cathy,
Me too!
I love what kids say! Too funny. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thanks Cool Mom!
Too funny. Cracks me up. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
She knows what she wants. What’s wrong with that? High expectations are great. I like the way your husband answered her. He let her know what the story is gently.
Hi Barbara,
My husband is great with her but he was laughing so much that he typed this up to share with me! He still chuckles over it. When he was a kid, he worked for much less around a golf course and thought he was the luckiest kid ever to be making money as a caddy or moving cable when they shot golf tournaments on TV (he grew up in Montery, CA).
Yup. I want to be a billionaire when I grow up, too. Let me get started right on that.
Hi Dee,
Me too! I’ll be working on that goal alongside you!
Hilarious! I like the way she thinks!
Thanks Erik! You are both the same age. She is entering 6th grade as well. Small world, isn’t it? She blogs about books too but not nearly as many as you do. I hope you both meet one day.
I like the hourly rate- if she charges double everyone else, she’ll be hired based on the perception that she’s THAT good of a caddy. Who rides in the cart.
Hi Jeanette,
My daughter appreciates how you think!! Only the players ride in the cart. Usually you get a cart OR a caddy, not both.
It’s good to know that my 6 year old is not the only one planning on how to make money and get rich. Her current plan is to give massages in the neighborhood. She also wants to charge $20 per massage, which would be a still for a massage… if it lasted an hour and not her customary 3 minutes 🙂
Hi Natalie,
I love it! $20 is a great price for a massage and it makes me laugh that her’s is 3 minutes. Maybe it will be longer for non family? LOL! I love kids and their entrepreneurial ideas. I truly think this is how it starts … kids get a taste for it and a feel for it and then have the confidence to go out into the world to start their own businesses. Good luck with your daughter’s! I’m sure we will be reading about her successes in a few decades!
Clearly, your kid has a bright future ahead of her..:)
Thanks Kathryn,
I know that SHE thinks so and that makes me laugh but also I’m happy that she has the confidence to know that she will be successful. We are trying to teach her about hard work and resilience since all entrepreneurs will need that in spades.
I was an amazing business person as a kid. I remember buying snoopy stickers in the mall and selling them to my classmates for LESS than I paid cuz I wanted them to buy.
Don’t think I ever will make billionaire status. (I’d be happy with a few million)
Hi Faigie,
That is a fun story! I bet you sold them all! 🙂
My son was to be rich too. He is thinking of being a miner for gold and gems.
Kids are so funny!
Hi Ann,
I love that! That would work if he hits the motherlode! I love it when kids think big!
Hilarious! I remember when we were young, we wanted to be millionaires. I guess inflation has driven the goal up to a billion!
Hi Sally,
I know, right?! A million dollars just doesn’t buy what it used to when we were kids!! LOL!