My understanding of money!
I had got Amar Pandit’s book for Children. Here is my daughter’s understanding of the book. She is in 4th standard, Apeejay School, Nerul, Navi Mumbai..here it is in her own words. I had posted a part of the article earlier too..this is the full one..
Recently my father got a copy of a book for children about Money. Here is what I learnt from that book and I thought it will be useful for all of us to know a little about Money. So here are some important concepts about money:
Saving:
Saving money is very important. We should save money because if one day suddenly we need money we will have it with us. If we just keep on spending all the money that we get and one day we need money we will not know what to do.
I am also saving all my pocket money because I might need it in future. I have kept it in a bank account and I get interest on that every year.
Tax:
As we all know that Government pays money for various things we should never spoil those things as Government takes money from our parents in the form of tax. All those people who get regular salary have to pay tax. When we buy a movie ticket half of the money that we pay goes to the government. This is called Entertainment tax.
Investing:
Investing makes our money grow. Just as a plant grows from a seed to a plant. When we keep our money in a savings bank we get interest but if we will invest our money in fixed deposits, shares, mutual funds, public provident funds, etc. our money will grow from a small amount to a big amount faster. Real money takes more time to grow whereas a plant grows within weeks.
Insurance:
Insurance protects you from spending a big amount on medical treatment, repairs, etc. Today if I am spending a small amount on a helmet, kneepad, arm-pads, etc. this will help me in being safe while skating. I will not have to spend a big amount on medical treatment. And if I fall ill the insurance company will pay the hospital bill. This way I and my family are spending lesser money from our pockets.
Prize Money:
We should treat our prize money just like our pocket money, because that also we have earned by working hard. We should save that money and not waste it on unwanted things. A part of the money we should spend on something fun like ice-cream and the balance we should put in our piggy bank or the savings bank account.
Banking:
We keep our money in the bank so that it is safe. The bank gives us a passbook in which we can see how much money we have deposited and how much money we have withdrawn. For using our money the bank pays us interest – this is also added to our total amount. Last time I saw there was an additional Rs. 314 interest in my savings bank account.
Credit Card:
When we are in a shop and we do not have cash with us we can buy things by using our credit card. The shop-keeper will let us take the goods because he will get the payment from the bank which has given us the credit card. However we have to make the payment to the bank after a few days when the bank asks us to make the payment. If we do not make the payment before the due date, we will have to pay interest on the amount that is due.
—end of Mridula’s article——
comments from kids more welcome than from adults 🙂 -subramanyam 🙂
Srikanth
Subra,
What an excellent summary! The kid has put the essence of what every individual should know about money in such few succinct words. Brilliant!
Srikanth
pravin
smart kid.more mature than i was at 21 moneywise!.good to see the ability to postpone gratification. bit sad to see her being so matter of fact about evil taxes.
Sam
Subra,
Amazing summary! Your kid certainly takes after you. I intend to make my kid read it.
Sam
Manshu
How cute! Certainly a very smart kid 🙂
Mahendra Pratap
well almost every people understand the importance of saving and thrift but yet how many people follow this wise path. just for quick gratification they sometimes forget it.
I think this would clearly remind people about the judicious utilization of money, especially when it is said by a very cute but smart kid.
i wish her all the best for her future life
M S PANJWANI
Dear subra, this could be harsh, but, i think u r putting undue pressure on your daughter, why don’t u allow her to grow naturally with childreds of her age, why u want to decide which book she should read? This is the age to play have fun and blow up all your pocket money on cookies,comics, toys,teddies,…financial planning and banking…not at this age…..song from 3 idiots….Bachpan bhi gaya..jawani bhi gayi….aab toh ek pal jine doh……..
Dominic
Definitely not for 4th std kid.
Muthu
Buffett got interested in stock when he was 6 years old. His father was a stock broker and Warren naturally started getting interested in what is father was doing.
A 9 year old girl, who is observing her father’s profession, learning from her father, might have developed her own insights.
Her observations are commendable. I believe she might have done it naturally, without any pressure from her father.
I hope Mr.Subra is not a kind of person who would put pressure on his kid.
M S PANJWANI
Buffett became Buffet by observing his father? Buffet’s father could not become buffet, but buffet become buffet by observing his father? out of the world’s population of 668 crores there’s only one buffett…we keep on singing his songs…and we think we are learned..we think that we are intelligent…. but the probability of becoming buffet is 1/668,00,00,0000……we actually live in fool’s paradise by quoting buffett for every breakfast,lunch and dinner….long live intellectual’s…..LOL.
sukumaran
best thing Subra! Muthu vs. M S Panjwani…LOL
Muthu
M.S.Panjwani – You can sing any song of your choice. If you want you can Soros or Panjwani your way to breakfast, lunch and dinner. I’m able to be financially self sufficient and independent because of whatever I could learn from Buffett. If interested go to the home page of my blog and read the current article ‘ What I’ve learnt from Buffett?’.
You read between lines and you are extremely good at it. I only mentioned that Buffett got interested in stocks because of his father. If you want confirmation, read his authorised biography.
Talk with facts and not with malice. Come out of fool’s paradise, though you feel blissful there.
Muthu
By the bye, Sukumaran what LOL stands for? Can you expand it for me?
M S PANJWANI
I gave my comments to subra, he never reacted sharply, he takes everthing in good spirit. Contrary to this, I never even uttered the name of this so called learned and intelligent “GENTLEMAN” with amazing writing skills, but he reacted so sharply replying me using my own words and sentences as if there is no tomorrow to display his writing skills. This is the difference between great personality like subra and mediocre and moron personality like this “GENTLEMAN”.
I am not interested in reading his blog as suggested by that GENTLEMAN as every bull market breeds thousands of blog writers, fundamental analysts, technical analysts, sub-brokers, tipsters etc., who vanishes in thin air in the very next market crash.
LOL means “laugh out loudly” to understand this expanded terminology we need to have good sense of humour,which is rare with people having low flash point.
Muthu
I pity you Panjwani. Your Buffett comment was unjustifiably highly critical of me. So I responded. You asked for it and got it. I’m not living in fool’s paradise, unlike you, dumb enough not to understand that your snide remarks were aimed at me.
You are not courageous enough to be direct. I am.
Thesaurus says ‘Moron’ means stupid. Calling me mediocre and moron and shows your stupidity and malice.
I’m not going to lose even a shred if you don’t read my blog. Only intelligent people read my blog. So your decision does not surprise me.
I’ve been associated with markets for last 17 years, since I was 20 years old. I’ve seen couple of bull and bear market cycles. My blog was started during the extreme bear market of November’08.
So your prophecy would never come true.
I’ve no intention of vanishing in thin air, unless I die.
After we die, and if there is a life after death, I’ll meet you in hell. We’ll have a party there.
The only good thing out of your hateful comments is that I learned the meaning of LOL. Thank you.
venshu
Dear Subra, it has rained heavily in Bahrain last night and this morning. The weather here seems to be cooling down however, this blog seems to be heating up!!
Can’t wait to see what happens next!!
By the way (not by the bye!!) I have given Amar Pandit’s book to my daughter (who is all off 6 years old). She actually reads extremely well for her age and has tried to read this book – trust me no pressure from my side at all- and now she says she wants to save all her pocket money and open a bank account. I am planning to take her to the bank next time I happen to go. I understand that the book is not really reccommended for 6 year olds however, by trying to read it, if a child can pick up words like ‘saving money’ and ‘bank account’ then why not? As long as the child is not put under undue pressure by parents to understand stuff that is beyond his/her comprehension.
I firmly believe that all children should be given financial education from a very young age – we learn Math and Science at a very young age then why not Personal Finance? When CBSE and ICSE load their syllabi with tough content we don’t flinch but when it comes to teaching some fundamentals of personal finance to our children then we tend to get all tangled up.
At the end of the day, it is a personal choice for parents and we as parents should do what we think is right and within reason.
sherin Dev
Hi Subramany, some of my friend recommended this site to me and found it is very resourceful in the sense of the subject deepness. I am from http://www.investinternals.com and could I ask you to get a guest article in my blog on any financial subject that focused to Indian audiences…
My ID is investinternals@gmail.com
Please have a look at http://www.investinternals.com and specially the guest writers section. Once you interested to post a guest article, you are welcome to do so. My thanks for the time, Sherin
hasan wangde
like father like daughter.