Young children in this country are among some of the luckiest in the world, despite what some headlines might say. They're likely to be the healthiest and smartest of any generation so far. Even better than that, they have more time than the rest of us.
As I'm sure every reader knows, time is compound interest's strongest ally. The more time we give our shares, the more likely we are to generate significant wealth.
Ten or fifteen years is a very long time in the share world, yet most children won't become adults for at least that length of time. That means you could make a long-term investment today for a child and let it compound over the next decade. They might not know what EBTIDA stands for yet, but it could be a great lesson in shares.
If I were buying shares for my children, these are three options I'd consider:
BETANASDAQ ETF UNITS (ASX: NDQ)
It's very likely that my child will end up using one (or more) of this exchange-traded fund's (ETF's) top holdings multiple times a day. It can be instructive for a child's first investment to be a thing they use or see all the time.
Apple, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon and Netflix are already things that we regularly use in our lives with phones, Youtube and Office products. I'm sure my child will be an even heavier user of technology than I was at their age.
It also helps that this ETF's top holdings are some of the brightest prospects in the global share market.
Greencross Limited (ASX: GXL)
The Petbarn and Greencross vet owner is going through a rough time at the moment. However, pet owners continue to go through a Petbarn's door regularly and buy the pet essentials. Or, increasingly, pet owners are shopping on Petbarn's online store.
It could be a good idea for the child to learn that they make a small profit on each Petbarn sale when we buy our pet supplies from there.
Greencross looks attractive at this current share price and continues to grow revenue whilst investing for growth.
If a child goes to day care or kindergarten, or at least knows about those places, then you can teach them that Arena owns the building and leases it to Goodstart or another tenant.
Arena has a long weighted average lease expiry (WALE) and a 100% occupancy rate. I believe it's one of the better real estate investment trusts (REITs) on the ASX.
Foolish takeaway
If I could only pick one share out of the three then it would be the NASDAQ ETF because of how diversified and growth-orientated it is. It would be a decent choice for any investor's portfolio.
