This is how it all began. Attempting to put some money aside for when my daughter (and now son) turn 18. An ongoing experiment that is going to be over a decade in the making…

The idea of traditional saving hasn’t ever really appealed to me. Don’t get me wrong I understand how powerful saving can be, and anyone with the discipline to regularly save will always end up in a strong financial position. I think my main problem with savings accounts is the ‘known’ aspect, combined with low interest rates. By that I mean that when I open an account and deposit, say £1000, I know at that point that in a years time I will have made all of £30 on that. Knowing the outcome is steady, reliable, everything good investment should be, but also somewhat deflating. Especially when you consider that if you head to the bank to open the account it could almost disappear with petrol, parking and a couple of coffees.

All of which led to my idea for this project. I was a teenager at the dawn of the internet, I remember the initial hype around ebay, and became immersed in a story about a guy from America who traded a red paper clip for a house. I love the idea of trading something for something else and building up an investment in small increments. I also really enjoyed the documentary series by Connor Woodman whereby he attempted to travel the World funding his journey by trading goods from nation to nation.

As my daughter is 1, i’ve got 17 years to trade up to present her with something which she can either use, or sell to help fund the next stage of her life. It’s a bit like a version of the generation game, where I’m trying to trade up from a cuddly toy to the star prize…