--- title: "Investor School and Little Entrepreneurs | Nurminen, Holmström | Neuvottelija 113" summary: "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." datePublished: 2021-12-19 dateModified: 2021-12-19 originalLang: en section: economy sections: ["economy"] authors: ["Sami Miettinen"] tags: ["Neuvottelija","EP113","Mikko Nurminen","Timo Holmström","Financial Literacy","Investing","Entrepreneurship Education","Schools"] canonical: https://ai.neuvottelija.com/ep113-sijoittajakoulu-ja-pikkuyrittajat-nurminen-holmstrom/ --- # Investor School and Little Entrepreneurs | Nurminen, Holmström | Neuvottelija 113 # 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.