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Meet the new generation of money-savvy, smart investors.

He's rich. At 14, Ramaswamy, a Standard IX student in a boarding school in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, has a bank balance of Rs 25,000 -- his own hard-earned money. What set the alarm bells ringing was the surface mail for returns of his ICICI bonds. Although his teacher mother and banker father panicked, rushing to counselling centres, Swamy remains his cool self. "I haven't robbed that money -- I have earned it through fair means," he explains to his mother.

And as if that was not enough, he also has a partner (thrice his age) -- 'somebody' he met at the bank -- who chips in Rs 25 for every hundred-rupee-bond that he invests in. The deal: each time the amount gets doubled, Swamy's partner gets a 50 per cent share of the profit. In case he does not make a profit, the partner lets go of the money invested.

His knack for personal economics showed early. In his younger days, Swamy was the only boy in the hostel with access to the outside world on a regular basis -- his grandmother was very ill and he was allowed to visit her every weekend. For every article that he bought for his friends he would charge a rupee. He had discovered wholesale retailers, from whom he bought the stuff at a cheaper rate than the market price. This went on for a couple of years till his parents discovered the money.

Sukhvinder is a VIth Standard student in a suburban school in Bombay. He gets a daily allowance of Rs 28, out of which he spends Rs 14 on commuting to school and food. The rest, meant for Coke, is saved in a bull-shaped money-box-significant, since Harshad Mehta is his inspiration. In a period of one-and-a-half years, Sukhvinder has saved more than Rs 3,000 which he wants to invest in shares. However, for the time being, he has been persuaded to put the money in a bank. Says father Janak Singh, "All the initiative -- to save and invest money -- came from him. We had to just guide him."

Arjyabir Majumdar, a student of Class Nine in Saint Joseph's School in Calcutta, gets Rs 10 per week from his father. Though his friends get five times more than what he gets, Arjyabir is not complaining. At 15, he knows exactly how to fill the gap. "I teach two students -- one is in Class Five and the other in Class Six -- and earn about Rs 500 per week," he says. Besides, he has also taken up a part-time job at an institute. For each student he recruits, he gets a commission of 10-20 per cent. He has already saved Rs 6,000 which he plans to invest in his college education abroad.

Thirteen-year-old Ravikanth studies in one of the most prestigious schools in Bangalore. His parents are separated. For Ravi that means a lot of money (about Rs 200-300 a day) -- the only way to compensate for 'lack of attention', he says. What does he do with all that money? "Buy Pepsi," pat comes the reply. Cartloads of Pepsi are meant for the consumption of his friends who are very fond of the soft drink. "If you have money, you have friends, otherwise it is difficult to survive," he says. He looks at it as an investment--towards a more 'long-lasting' friendship. He feels these are the people who will stand by him in the long run.

Meet the children of the new millennium. It's not the weight of their ever-burgeoning school bag, nor the anxiety-ridden score card that worries them these days. It is the shrinking size of the wallet that concerns them the most. And what's more, this street-smart children-next-door are not just spending with the same nonchalance as their adult counterparts but are also investing, to make some quick money.

A survey conducted by Turner International's Cartoon Network has thrown up interesting data on the spending pattern of children. While for most children within the age group of 8-16 years, the source of income is still limited to the pocket money, a large number of children are also earning. What's more, some of them have acquired a knack for supplementing their existing funds.

"The new young generation is more financially mature. They may spend money but they also save and invest at a very young age," says Dr Harish Shetty, a psychiatrist and a student's counsellor in several schools in Bombay. "What's surprising is that they are already aware of ways to multiply it," he adds. Teachers inform that there are several children, some as young as nine-year-olds, who deposit money in the bank and maintain their own records. One, in fact, asked his parents to invest his money in a post-office scheme.

Rough estimates from teachers and parents confirm that children within the age group of 8-16 years from middle-class to affluent segments of society usually get pocket money in the range of Rs 300-5,000.

In a suburban school in the affluent Juhu Scheme area, it is a common sight to spot students splurging on audio compact discs or playing pool in expensive clubs.

Arvind Tyagi, 14, doesn't mind blowing it up on his father's scooter. Aware of the fact that riding a scooter without a valid licence is illegal, this Delhi lad finds the thrill of showing off his 'own' vehicle irresistible. "Having a scooter among my age group is like a status symbol, y'know," he says.

Although choosing a career is going to be a toss-up between engineering and computers, Tyagi is quite focussed when it comes to the subject of making money. "I want to collect lots of it," he says, simply.

The novelty factor is that children now apply their minds in money-management. The patterns vary from Delhi-Bombay to Bangalore-Madras, but most children realise that in order to spend, one also needs to make money.

A teacher narrates an interesting incident involving a Class Five student from an affluent family. This child was more than comfortable in terms of pocket money, yet she circulated her storybooks to her class-mates, charging Rs 2 per book for a week's loan.

"Children have become money-savvy at a very young are, thanks to the prevailing consumerist culture in our society and also through the media and availability of technology," informs Dr Usha Nair, director of the Unit for Child and Youth Research at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

Socio-economic backgrounds also have a role to play. "With increasing number of children chasing decreasing number of seats in educational institutions and scholarships drying up, the professional classes are more aware of the value of money, which they try to drill in their children," says Chandra Shekhar Mukherji, neuro-psychiatrist, associated with a charitable society called Children In Pain. "There is a view that there is no nest-egg or a back-up stashed away and children will have to make their own future."

Spending patterns of children in different cities

Kind courtesy: Sunday magazine

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