Listening to the old Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meetings in is a form of treasure hunting. Much of it is familiar and repetitive, but every so often there is a little bit that is new.
This week’s tiny gold nugget is that Buffett quotes a book that found that one of the best indicators of future financial success is the age at which the child started their first business. Of course, this was perfect for Warren Buffett who was already buying a six-pack of Coke for 25 cents and selling each bottle for 5 cents as a pre-teen. He delivered newspapers himself, making the equivalent of a $1,000 a month in today’s dollars, all before he started school each morning. Of course, he then quickly moved on to “owning” newspaper routes but farming out the work to other kids. He owned pinball machines. I’m sure there is more.
Around 2011, Buffett helped create a cartoon for kids called in which he was the mentor of kids learning life lessons through entrepreneurship. You can watch the episodes on . Back in 2015, I even reviewed a copy of the companion book .
The difference today is that my kids are nearly getting to the age where people advise you to start teaching them about money. I’m still not really convinced by the “bend the rules to give your 9-year-old some earned income and put it a Roth IRA” strategy. However, I can get on board with having them start a business. If they happen to earn some income, great. But even if they don’t, consider what they could learn in the process:
- Reliability
- Honesty
- Social skills
- Attention to detail
- Patience and tolerance
- Failure and perseverance
Sounds like an excellent ROI to me.
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