From: Wei Dai (weidai@eskimo.com)
Date: Fri May 24 2002 - 00:43:33 MDT
On Sat, May 18, 2002 at 03:12:04PM -0700, Phil Osborn wrote:
> On a related note, I've suggested before that if we
> were to update the practices common in traditional
> societies - where the children are expected to care
> for the parents in old age - to a modern economic
> framework, then child-rearing in general would benefit
> enormously. I'm talking about the idea of forming a
> trust in each newborn child. This trust could be
> disowned by the child later, but doing so could be
> expensive, as it would be the public record of the
> trust that would determine its share value, and a
> person who disowned such a vehicle would find it hard
> to get loans or credit.
>
> The parents could claim a portion of shares - or be
> granted them by the child at maturity - which would be
> the financial payback for all the investment they made
> in the kid. If they did a good job, then the share
> value would generally reflect that. Other people
> around the world could also invest in the child -
> typically thru child-oriented mutual funds, I expect.
> Kids of exceptional potential would get the education
> optimized to their abilities regardless of where they
> were born, or their parents income level.
This sounds intriguing, but I'm having trouble understanding how it works
exactly. You wrote "it would be the public record of the trust that would
determine its share value", what does that mean? Is there a web page that
describes this idea in more detail?
I think it's horrible that children's educational opportunities are
limited by the financial resources of their parents. It would be great to
have a better way of funding child education.
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