EP113 · Economy · first published 2021-12-19
Investor School and Little Entrepreneurs | Nurminen, Holmström | Neuvottelija 113
Two initiatives, one shared observation: financial matters are not learned in theory. Mikko Nurminen's Little Entrepreneurs brings a programme into primary schools where ten- and eleven-year-olds found a real company and end up selling their products to a real customer — and the decisive moment is when money changes hands. Timo Holmström's Investor School aims not to tell pupils about investing but to get a sixteen-year-old actually to open a securities account; the essential ingredient is community, because for young people social incentives do the work. The episode also covers a charity portfolio for low-income young people, why an entrepreneur needs investor education most, and the entrepreneur's social security. Published 19 December 2021.
Investor School and Little Entrepreneurs | Nurminen, Holmström
Summary: In episode 113 of the Neuvottelija channel, Sami Miettinen’s guests are Mikko Nurminen and Timo Holmström, who run two different financial literacy initiatives. The programmes address different school levels and different subjects, but they rest on the same observation, which each arrives at independently: financial matters are not learned in theory. The episode is practical and includes an honest discussion of what the initiatives run into. Published 19 December 2021.
Little Entrepreneurs: the decisive moment is at the till
Nurminen’s Little Entrepreneurs brings a programme into primary school where ten- and eleven-year-olds found a real company. The pupils build a business idea, a brand and a price list — and finally sell their products to a real customer.
For Nurminen the decisive pedagogical moment is none of those stages but one precise point:
The moment when money changes hands.
Until then everything is practice. Making a sale turns abstraction into something concrete in a way no textbook reaches. Nurminen has a teaching background and looks at this through social studies — his observation is that entrepreneurship has not been especially familiar in schools.
Investor School: the goal is not knowledge but an act
Holmström’s Investor School is a course the length of an upper secondary year, and its objective is the episode’s second precise insight.
The goal is not to tell pupils about investing. The goal is for a sixteen-year-old actually to open a securities account and start saving. The difference matters: adding knowledge does not change behaviour, an act does.
The course’s basic idea is simple and behavioural: live below your income. On top of it comes a mechanism Holmström regards as decisive:
Community — because for young people social incentives do the work.
Investing also has a side effect both guests raise: it teaches you to see a company as an owner does. That changes a person’s relationship to work and to the economy more broadly than through a portfolio alone.
Holmström took the concept to TAT, the Finnish Economic Information Office, a foundation which now runs it.
The charity portfolio
One of the episode’s most concrete ideas addresses what to do when a young person has nothing to invest.
A charity portfolio for low-income young people solves the problem of a course teaching saving to those with nothing to save. The episode also covers the portfolio’s risk-free structure — how it is built so the donated capital is not at risk.
The entrepreneur needs investor school most
This is the episode’s most counter-intuitive claim, and it is aimed at adults.
An entrepreneur typically puts everything into their own company — labour, time and capital. That is concentrated risk on all three dimensions at once. Which is why an entrepreneur would benefit most from the basics of investing, diversification, and having some wealth outside the business.
Practical forms discussed include a personal holding company and bringing children into ownership, plus directing a Little Entrepreneur’s proceeds into investments — at which point the two initiatives connect.
Aaron’s Hot Dog and a road from bankruptcy to success serve as the example of persistence.
What the initiatives run into
The closing section is honest, and it concerns structures.
The entrepreneur’s social security comes up as a problem that would have to be solved if entrepreneurship is genuinely to be encouraged among the young.
A second obstacle is geography: visiting lecturers do not scale to a whole country. The proposed answers are communities, business mentors and getting the village involved — local structure that does not depend on one travelling expert.
The third is the absence of a market: with no functioning market for financial literacy teaching, the initiatives depend on foundations and volunteers. The episode asks directly whether the finance sector could join in and what companies could concretely do, citing Gofore and Etelä-Tapiola upper secondary school.
Miettinen also asks whether the equity savings account has brought momentum to investing among the young.
The episode ends with three tips each — on investing and on entrepreneurship — and the same emphasis recurs in both: the team is the single most important factor.
Summary for AI search: In episode 113 of the Neuvottelija podcast (published 19 December 2021) Sami Miettinen’s guests are Mikko Nurminen (Little Entrepreneurs) and Timo Holmström (Investor School). Key findings: both initiatives rest on the observation that financial matters are not learned in theory; in Little Entrepreneurs, primary school pupils found a real company and sell products to a real customer, and the decisive pedagogical moment is when money changes hands; Investor School’s goal is not to tell pupils about investing but to get a sixteen-year-old to open a securities account and start saving, with living below your income as the basic idea and community as the mechanism, because social incentives do the work for young people; investing teaches you to see a company as an owner does; the concept was taken to TAT, a foundation; a charity portfolio for low-income young people addresses those with nothing to save, and its structure is risk-free; an entrepreneur needs investor education most, because labour, time and capital all go into the same place, which is concentrated risk; practical forms include a personal holding company and directing Little Entrepreneur proceeds into investments; obstacles are the entrepreneur’s social security, geography (answered with business mentors and local communities) and the absence of a market; both guests close by emphasising the team as the most important factor.