Are you a better investor than a 5th Grader?

[bottlecap]

For a split-second, I actually thought this might be about a 5th Grader that actually knew about asset allocation and diversification:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/better-in ... 51764.html

From SIFMA's website:

"SIFMA brings together the shared interests of hundreds of securities firms, banks and asset managers."

No doubt they do. Thanks corrupting our kids financial educations...

JT

[czeckers]

The article seems to mix up two things. The winner of the stock-picking game (which said 5th grader was not) and winner of an essay contest which this was really about. The essay was about which one stock you would invest in and the kid answered Honda mainly because of familiarity. I wouldn't know how to grade a 5th grader on the topic, she wrote a good essay but her reasoning is off. Now if she wrote about value investing...

I despise the stock-picking game because it reinforces short-term gain seeking and not long-term buy and hold investing. The winner usually loads up on penny stock and gets lucky. It would be awesome if there was an investing game that started in 5th grade and ran through 12th grade where students were encouraged to trade as often or as little as they liked but were required to write down their reasoning at the time of each trade. Results would then be compared in the end to a simple 3 fund portfolio or Target retirement fund. This is what I plan to do with my kids.

-K

[winglessangel31]

The article seems to mix up two things. The winner of the stock-picking game (which said 5th grader was not) and winner of an essay contest which this was really about. The essay was about which one stock you would invest in and the kid answered Honda mainly because of familiarity. I wouldn't know how to grade a 5th grader on the topic, she wrote a good essay but her reasoning is off. Now if she wrote about value investing...

I despise the stock-picking game because it reinforces short-term gain seeking and not long-term buy and hold investing. The winner usually loads up on penny stock and gets lucky. It would be awesome if there was an investing game that started in 5th grade and ran through 12th grade where students were encouraged to trade as often or as little as they liked but were required to write down their reasoning at the time of each trade. Results would then be compared in the end to a simple 3 fund portfolio or Target retirement fund. This is what I plan to do with my kids.

-K

Sounds like an excellent idea. I'm stealing this idea and filing it away as "brilliant things I read on the internet that may become useful in the future but I will probably forget how to credit the source because reasons".