Salomon Smith Barney (SSB) has re-launched its Young Investors Network Web site, designed to enhance the financial literacy of US children and encourage family financial planning.
Originally introduced in 1998, the site was voted "Best of the Web - Investing for Kids" by Forbes magazine in September 2000.
Based on new focus group research among parents and children, the site's new features include activities and exercises to help teach children about saving and investing. Young investors also have the opportunity to research stocks and build and monitor their own cyber portfolios.
The new parents' section involves college planning information which includes a future education cost calculator with links to 1300 colleges and universities. The feature enables parents to research and estimate how much college will cost them, and determine the best strategy for investing to meet these future costs.
The new teachers' section offers a tutorial on how to use the Web site in their classrooms and provides the opportunity to build and monitor a class cyber portfolio.