Catch them young: 8-yr-olds get a hang of stock market

If you thought dabbling in the stock market was only for adults, think again. A local educational platform that aims to provide children entrepreneurial education is teaching the intricacies of the stock market to kids from the age of eight. 

Kidspreneur, an entrepreneurial educational programme started by founder-CEO Mohanalakshmi K, began this in January. “We had a section on stock market for children as part of our Kidspreneur MBA course. Students seemed very interested, so we decided to start our Kidspreneur Pro course to cater to them,” said Mohanalakshmi. 

The course teaches the nuances of stock, bonds, CDs, venture capital, real estate and collectibles through a part-virtual, part-real model. Children are given 3,000 virtual dollars each week to spend on real-world companies. They are encouraged to research on the companies they can ‘invest’ in, and they calculate the returns they earn at the end of the week. 

“Students typically like to invest in FMCG companies. They see that these products are there in their homes, so they invest in the company. However, many are open to diversifying, saying that the pandemic has proven that healthcare is a good place to invest. They learn quickly, and some of them even call me and ask me if a certain change in the market will affect their virtual stocks,” says Mohanalakshmi. 

By learning about investments, students acquire personal finance skills that are skipped in schools, she says, adding that this is crucial to empower them with practical skills for the future.