Hey mister! That’s what I heard when I stepped out of the car. On my way to the apartment, three nine-year-olds approached me. I said: yes? Mister, if we guess your age, do we get 50 cents?
Two boys and one girl were carrying around a calculator. I asked, if you guess my age, and I were to give you the money, what will you buy with it? I hadn’t even finished my sentence, and the girl shouted out: skittles! One boy said he was saving for a Playstation.
I was intrigued and excited. These kids had mustered up the courage to come up with some scheme to earn some money. Impressed as I was with their entrepreneurial spirits, I said; fine, go ahead.
What’s your shoe size? One of the boys asked. I answered, 43. Next, what’s your year of birth? Trying to control my facial expressions, I said; wait a minute. If I were to give you my year of birth, couldn’t you just calculate my age? No, no, no, they replied. See, mister we’re adding two extra zeros to your shoe size, then subtract it with your year of birth. We don’t want to make it easy on ourselves.
Before you guess, I said, I’m going to give you the money right after but only if you promise to invest at least half of it. Invest it, mister? What does that mean? After attempting to warm them up for the concept of investing, they agreed.
Upon magically guessing my age, I gave them four euros. I just happened to have two coins in my pocket, which rarely happens. The boy seemed to be baffled for a second. The moment didn’t last long because right after they started shouting; whoa, now we have 6,40€! For the whole street to hear.
Those kids were so grateful, and the look in their eyes was priceless. Now, every time I will meet them, I’ll ask about how the investment is doing.
I hope those kids somehow felt rewarded for their guts and ambitions and slowly start to understand the principle of increasing capital.