In this first initiative we explore the world of Crypto Currency and the learning/investment opportunities for youth
Backgrounder: Articles to provoke thought and to compare past, present and future practices - are you ready?
One of the biggest differences in investing in digital currencies such as Bitcoin versus the stock of various companies, is the cost involved. Each stock purchase can come with a hefty fee and minimum purchase requirements. If you are spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on each stock purchase for a child, you need to make darn sure they pick one that will stand up to Grandpa's scrutiny.
At this early stage of development, Cryptocurrency is a high risk investment, so never invest more than you can afford to lose. I recommend testing the waters by giving up a non-essential purchase you would have spent money on anyway and using those funds to make your currency purchase. If you are investing more than a few experimental dollars, do your due diligence and fully research the currencies you choose.
If you aren't quite ready to let your kids buy cryptocurrency, you can create a practice game at home or at school. CoinMarketCap lists the market cap, price, supply, 24 hour volume, % price change, and a price graph of over 600 digital currencies. To make life easier, have the children select a few currencies from only the first page or two. Record today's price as well as how much they bought of each and then follow up each week updating the price. Some of the currencies have wild price swings and not all of them are trustworthy, but this is a good teaching tool to cover those topics as well. A competition could be held with each child receiving a certain dollar value of play money to invest, with the winner having the best performing portfolio after a certain time frame. Either way, kids will begin growing and tracking their investments through the ups and downs, and be on their way to join the ranks of the financially educated.
In this series of articles we'll take a closer look at exploring other educational articles and videos so your children/youth can learn all about Cryptocurrencies and the exciting opportunities which lie ahead and how they can learn and invest early to get ahead of the herd (they are coming).
