Investing from Age Zero

My daughter has begun her savings and investment journey ever since she was born. To date, the amount isn’t much but it goes a long way. Why Investing early matters? The investment horizon of an average adult is roughly 40 years — from the time you enter the working society at age 25 till you possibly retire at age 65. Many less savvy ones actually start off much later, either due to circumstances or not understanding the importance of wealth building. Personally, I started off late at 34, and that leaves me with just a good 30-ish odd years.

For my daughter, starting off the right footing early means she has a long timeframe of at least 60 years. An earlier headstart of 25 years work wonders, as the beauty of compound interest will show.

Syfe, one of the 11 robo-advisors or digital wealth manager in Singapore, has reached out for a collaboration with TOC to bring forth this segment on financial planning from a long-term horizon perspective on the 26 February 2020.

I am definitely enthusiastic in sharing how young parents like yourself and myself can invest for your children’s future needs today, with the various investment instruments available today. With the many personal finance communities, as well as the vast availability, you really can’t say you don’t know the benefits or how to get started. I guess even for adults, sometimes we just need a push or an inspiring story from another’s experience to really get down to work and kickstart the process.

For our children, there is always a conscious decision to attempt to increase wealth not just for the near future, but also for large ticket items such as their university education, wedding preparation, assistance towards first home etc. Inflation is a real thing. If you don’t plan for it, you will get hurt real bad when it is time to fork out the money.

There is sometimes a misconception between assisting your child with a headstart and spoiling them by giving them a headstart. Instead of being in a grit-lock that parents are harming their children by handing them a golden spoon, it would be the prudent growing of the base money that would have been theirs anyway. We are talking about red packet money from Chinese New Year or special occasions, school allowances etc.

As parents who have spent years in society and managing money, we are probably more in the know of what works and don’t. Even if we are bad in managing our own finances (with a history trail), we could assist our children in starting off with a clean slate.

I am excited to engage with parents with young children who are similarly in the position to do good for their children over the long run, from young.

You can sign up for the event using this link.