Ten-year-old Jaydyn Carr isn’t your typical investor. He’s not rushing to place risky bets in volatile markets with his spare funds. Yet he just learned a valuable lesson about playing the long game in a big way.
And it all started with a thoughtful Kwanzaa gift.
In 2019, his mother took $60 and bought ten shares of the video game retailer GameStop. It was a fitting gift for a child gamer to learn about investing, financial responsibility, and to celebrate the Kwanzaa principle of ujamaa, or cooperative economics.
Two years later, things moved very quickly.
Because of an internet-fueled “squeeze” in early 2021 on hedge fund bets that the stock would fall, GameStop’s stock instead surged by over 1,700%, according to the New York Times.
Jaydyn’s stock was now worth an astounding $3,200 - a 5,000% return on the original investment! But now a decision needed to be made.
His mother explained the unusual situation to Jaydyn, then left the decision to hold or sell the stock up to him. He wisely decided he would sell - then saved $2,200 and reinvested $1,000 in other promising companies.
Investing in the stock market comes with many risks. But what we can learn from this tale of intentional instruction is that the next generation is primed to learn valuable lessons - assuming they’re in step with their own innocent interests.