Investing for young people

A guest post by Libertas

Come on in, the water is fine. Ok, relax I'm kidding. I had the immense privilege to interact with a young go-getter that is looking to change the way young Kiwis and young people around the globe approach money.

I came across her blog and it was extremely refreshing to see someone who is making a positive change in their world and community. The maturity and wisdom beyond her years are very apparent in the answers below.

If you have someone younger in your world, a child, a niece a nephew I would highly recommend you go and see what she has to say.

Enjoy the post!

1. Younger people are often labelled as ‘being bad with their money’ how did you come to the knowledge and realisation about money, frugality and investing, and what is the main driver for you doing this?

I think that my attitude towards money and knowledge about personal finance stems from my parents and their openness and willingness to talk with me about money. In a lot of families, I think that talking about money is kind of taboo and something that people avoid, so I think that my parents exposed me to personal finance at a young age and helped to build up my interest in knowledge and attitude towards money and investing. That's what initially got me into learning more about money and investing, but now the main driver I would say is wanting to retire early rather than work for the rest of my life. I want to be able to have the freedom to go travel and enjoy my life whilst I'm still young and I realised that can achieve this by learning more about money now and investing early. As returns compound, I think that it's best to start thinking about money as soon as you can, get thinking about how you want your future to look like and then shape your finances around that.

2. Let’s say you had all the money in the world, what would you be doing with your time? Does it look much different to what you are doing now?

If I had all the money in the world, I'd definitely be doing something different. I think I'd be with my family and travelling, doing some volunteer work, and just trying to help others out. If I had all the money in the world I probably wouldn't be needing to learn about finance and money like I am now, so I might try to find something else that I’m passionate about.

3. What do you think would happen if everyone was financially independent? Do you think that it might make sense for everyone to pursue this or are there exceptions to the rule?

Personally, I think that whilst it does make sense for everyone to pursue financial independence, I understand that some just can’t. I believe that the concept of financial independence and being able to plan for it, in and of itself is a privilege. For some, no matter how much they want financial independence it may just not be possible because of the circumstances that they are put in, and frankly, it may be the last thing that's on their mind right now. However, for those that are able, I think that it is something that everybody should be working towards in order to then be able to prioritize other things in your life as you get older.

4. How have your friends, family and colleagues reacted to your wanting to change your financial future?

Honestly, I don't think my interest in personal finance is changed. It's been something that I've wanted ever since I was younger, but overall, I think that everyone around me is really supportive.

5. If there is a general sentiment or statement you wanted to share with people in your generation or anyone, what would it be and why?

I think that I would just place more importance on thinking ahead to our futures and the financial steps we should take in order to reach these goals. Now I’m generalizing a bit, but I think that my generation places a lot of importance on living in the moment and whilst I completely understand that sentiment, I think that it's also essential for us to plan ahead just so that we're prepared for our futures. I understand the fear that we have for the future because of all the negative things that are happening like COVID-19, climate change etc. But regardless, I still do think it's essential for us to think ahead because thinking about these things a planning them now, will save us a world of trouble when we are in our 30s or 40s.