Teaching your children how to trade

I

i am nobody

Maybe the following can generate a interesting discussion as this was never before discussed on ET I think.

I was thinking about what I should do in future and wanted to prepare the next steps to take from myself. Should I teach my children to trade? Should I sell my “business”?

It was no easy for me as I do not want to make wrong steps (like tell them they can make a lot of money, as money alone is not a good motivation to survive). 1 wrong step can potentially be a disaster as it might trigger the wrong motivation to start trading. So I have to be very careful.

Finally I started a few months ago to teach two of my children what trading is. These are the consecutive steps of my plan for the teaching:
  1. I ask them if they would be interested.
  2. They have to sit next to me for 8 hours every day to see what trading means without explaining them any details about the trading or the results.
  3. I have to get a confirmation they get intrigued by the unexpected and unpredictable (for them at least and for the time being) moves and are eager to understand and master them.
  4. I will teach them the general logic that I use.
  5. I will explain how it works and how they can calculate the open P/L from a trade. First in general and when they master this I will drilldown till all details are explained.
  6. After a few months they will have to do simulated trades in realtime and explain me why they did what they did.
  7. If I think they are ready to trade I will open separate accounts for hem and they can trade 1 ES mini. All the risks will be for me as I fund the accounts and refund them if they wipe out. So they will not have any pressure because of finances. I will also explain them that failure is part of the education, and only the result at the end of the teaching process will be important.
  8. Every trade they do will have to be explained after the close. They should ALWAYS follow the rules I teach them, no matter what the result of this is. Result is irrelevant, following the rules for 100% is important. The system will take care of the result. They should understand, master and apply the power of probabilities, because that’s the road they should follow to success.
  9. When they become finally (hopefully) good traders I will tell them to try to improve what I teached them. They know already that you should never take other people’s “wisdom” for granted, but study it critically, and if necessary, adapt it to your own findings.

Any suggestions and remarks are welcome. At least if they are constructive.
 
It looks like you want them into trading.

My suggestion, have a trading screen around. Whenever one shows interests, by asking questions about what you do and how you do it, you can take it from there. Till then you should just trade , and let them see you trading.
 
smallStops said:
It looks like you want them into trading.

My suggestion, have a trading screen around. Whenever one shows interests, by asking questions about what you do and how you do it, you can take it from there. Till then you should just trade , and let them see you trading.
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They both see my screens all day, for many years already. My son told me when he was about 12 that I shoul buy when the charts were low and sell when the charts were high. :D

One of them asked explicitly if she could learn it, before I started to speak about it.

I don't want to force them into trading, I can sell everything too. But I encourage my children to do as many different things in life as possible. Only then you can make a sound and good choice.

Examples:
  1. live or visit for longer times other countries to see how life is there.
  2. do at least a few different jobs before deciding what you want to do in future.
  3. if you want to buy a car you should at least test a few cars and not just buy the same as your dad.
  4. Before marrying you should have at least experience with a few boys/girls to see the differences and what your options are.
So my view is: try to find out what all your options are and decide then. Don't take the first option that you bump into. Or you might end up as a bump. :)
 
I decided not to teach my daughter how to trade. She is now 28 YO and doing well, but she works in the industry for a large bank. I'm happy she is not trading. It's not for everyone.

If I had a young kid today, I would have them focus on programming and lean toward a career in cyber security. That is where all the good jobs will be for the next 10 years.

Bob
 
Children enjoy gaming. If trading was kept as a game, without them realising there is actual money at stake, they could potentially beat even professionals at it. Psychology can often attribute to lost opportunities, absense of fear and all that. Just a random thought. P.S. Who doesn't do well on a sim? ;)
 
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rmorse said:
I decided not to teach my daughter how to trade. She is now 28 YO and doing well, but she works in the industry for a large bank. I'm happy she is not trading. It's not for everyone.

If I had a young kid today, I would have them focus on programming and lean toward a career in cyber security. That is where all the good jobs will be for the next 10 years.

Bob
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Here is an example of a controlling parent. This would be a much better world if folks actually enjoyed what they did, wouldn't you say? Instead we have so many adults stuck in professions they aren't excited about, partially attributed to their folks 'steering' them there (mostly financial stability motivation). Secondly, let's not forget it's a competitive world, if you are average at what you do (not a natural) you would struggle, unless there is a real shortage, which isn't normally the case.
 
rmorse said:
How was I controlling? I let her choose her path 100%. She never asked to learn trading so I never tried to teach her.
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Perhaps I misunderstood your post then. Kids/teens must have open options and not 'I think you ought to do that, because...'. It's so exciting to be around folks that are passionate about their profession (unless they are a trader. JKing :))
 
romik said:
Children enjoy gaming. If trading was kept as a game, without them realising there is actual money at stake, they could potentially beat even professionals at it. Psychology can often attribute to lost opportunities, absense of fear and all that. Just a random thought.
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This is very true... and one of the keys to winning in the market. Follow a winning process with a positive edge and don't worry so much about the money, wins or losses. Don't get greedy by risking too much. Keep your trade size in line with your risk appetite and account size. There really isn't too much more to it than that.

I have a 3 year old grandson who likes to sit on my lap when I trade. He already shows an interest in what I do and I plan on teaching him when he gets older if the interest is still there.

My plan though would be to teach him to trade longer term first as I think it's a better fit for most people... especially if they have a 50-60 year time horizon LOL. After teaching him that if he wants to get more involved and learn to day trade as well that can be accomplished next.
 
As a teenage, I did not guide her at all. As she approached college, it was time to take a path. She switched on her own from science to business. Once she choose business, I help guide her toward success. I don't look at the time at a University as just a good education, but also putting a person on a path toward a career. I let her evaluate the different sides of business through internships. But the choice was her's. The "kids" that have no guidance or don't think about the end game, often go many years before the end up with a career vs just a job.

I'm proud of what I did and she is happier because of it. You can call it controlling, I call it guidance and being a good parent. If it were 12 years ago, I would ask her if she was interested in learning programming. If she was not, I would not push it.
 
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