Experts agree that teaching children the value of investing from a young age helps to create financially successful adults. Keisha Cameron is doing just that plus earning an income from her third children’s book – Ayedin Learns Investment.
Cameron, a first-time mother has been chronicling her experiences in motherhood through the book series, Ayedin Learns, which she launched three years ago featuring her now four-year-old son Ayedin.
The VM Innovations employee, in speaking with Loop News, stressed the importance of teaching children not just the importance of money but also long-term investing and getting them to understand that preparing for their future from an early age is the key to financial independence.
“When I was growing up and I heard my teenage friends talking about buying things for themselves I used to wonder how they were able to do that and how they had access to certain financial information that I didn’t and how come that information wasn’t available to me? But eventually, I realised that the information is available for everybody it’s just that not everybody has access to it,” Cameron said.
Her new book, Ayedin Learns Investment, is intended to “bridge the gap in how people, particularly children, get this information,” she said.
“I don’t want Ayedin to get to 29 years old before he learns about long-term investment or that he can trade in stocks. I never learnt about trading until a couple of years ago when it became a big thing,” she said.
Ayedin and his mom Keisha
The book also comes at a time when teenagers and young adults are cashing in on the stock market, she reasoned noting 21-year-olds can take dream vacations due to their savvy investing.
“The difference between us [people over 30] and them is that they had access to information,” she said adding her intention as a mother is to ensure that her son has the financial grounding and knowledge he will need to put him ahead in life.
Ayedin Learns Investment uses a simple analogy of an apple seed that grew into a big tree and bore fruit to teach children the value of smartly saving and investing in order to reap the benefits later in life.
“Ayedin’s great-grandmother came to visit. She would normally bring him sweets but this time she decided to bring him some money and used the opportunity to teach him the importance of having your money grow,” Cameron said of the events that inspired her third book.
“She told him about putting his money in an investment account for it to grow and then using it to like buying a nice house someday.”
The book also talks about owning shares or stocks in a business with the four-year-old’s favourite restaurant as the teaching point.
Ayedin Learns Investment was sponsored by VM Wealth, making Cameron’s experience of publishing much easier than her previous attempt.
“They believe in imparting financial education from very young and are very supportive of their employees,” she said. The financial house also provided guidance on the technical and financial information to ensure accuracy, she said adding the book is now available on Amazon.
Readers also get bonus saving activities in the book such as the 20-envelope and $50-dollar challenges which teach discipline in strategically saving for long-term goals.
“There was a point when we just started that he was extremely impatient and wanted to use the money in the envelopes to buy his favourite snack but he eventually learnt patience,” Cameron said noting one of the most valuable lessons of investing.
