Let Mickey Mouse Work For You

One way to teach kids about how money works is to explain to them that the things they love the most are companies owned by someone or often times many people. Their favorite hamburger place, toy store, yogurt shop, movies, or amusement parks are all someone's assets used to put money in the pocket of the owners. Without the owners we would not have these favorite things in our lives.

Not only are many of these companies owned by many people but often times they are public companies and can be owned by your child.

The concept of a public company can be difficult for a child to grasp. We need to break it down and make it visual. Think of company ownership as a big puzzle. They break the company into millions of puzzle pieces and then sell each piece. Selling stock/puzzle pieces raises money which is used to make more movies or toys to sell. The more toys they sell, the more money the company makes (profit). As an owner of the company you will get a piece of the profit back in what is called a dividend.

Encourage your child to buy pieces of companies of their favorite things.  To make it visual you can decorate puzzles pieces and put them in a photo album or scrapbook.  You will know your child has grasped the concept of company ownership when they insist on buying friends and family gifts made by the companies they own so they can make more money!

As Christmas rapidly approaches, I challenge you to buy your child or grandchild at least one asset to go along with all those toys (liabilities) you have planned to buy.  Buy them a scrapbook as a visual symbol of their company, stock for one of their favorite places or things,  and their first puzzle piece to put in their scrapbook.  While I am not a licensed broker and cannot recommend specific stock to buy I will share with you my son’s portfolio of companies he has purchased or been given as gifts to give you a feel for stock prices of the things that he loves.

Company (Stock Symbol)	Price/share as of Nov 9, 2012
Ford (F)	$10.93
Disney (DIS)	$47.06
John Deere (DE)	$84.29
Leap Frog (LF)	$8.29
Target (TGT)	$62.02

For a fun and simple way to teach your child what a company is and how it works check out "A Day At The Carnival".