Rebel snowboarder Slice is no private banker. But he is striving to be the trusted financial adviser to thousands of investors.
Young investors, that is.
Slice is a fictional character who guides children through a page on the World Wide Web set up by Boston-based Liberty Financial Cos. The two-week- old site is the newest feature of a Liberty program designed to educate children about personal finance while encouraging their parents to make investments for them.
The centerpiece of the program is the Young Investors Fund, managed by Stein Roe & Farnham, a Liberty mutual fund company in Chicago. The three- year-old fund, which employs a growth stock strategy, has $245 million in assets under management. Its average shareholder is 9 years old.
The mutual fund is pitched as an investment vehicle for children whose families do not have the money to set up trust funds. Liberty executives say their product is better than a trust because the clients get more involved.
"We feel that a funded trust account will help pay for a college education," said William P. Rice, director of the Young Investors program. "But it doesn't help children learn to become responsible in handling money themselves."
Bankers beg to differ. Northern Trust Corp. and Chase Manhattan Corp. both hold educational seminars for the children of their wealthiest clients, many of whom have trust accounts.
"There is no substitute for ongoing, one-on-one interaction between a trust officer and the beneficiary," said Mark Stevens, executive vice president of Northern Trust.
However, Mr. Stevens added he "applauded" Liberty's effort to educate retail investors too.
Children invest in the Stein Roe fund through custody accounts set up by their parents. Forty-four percent of Young Investors shareholders invest fresh assets in the fund every month through automatic transfers out of other bank or brokerage accounts. The fund's return was 40.3% through Oct. 31.
Slice, who is designed to appeal to teenagers, has a gang of financial friends. They are: Murphy the Magician, Planet Lisa, Bengod, Webster and Blad, a robot who likes tech stocks. Children are led to trivia games, a "Kid2Kid" chat room, a dictionary of financial terms, and articles written for a young audience.
The program's strategic thrust is meant to place Liberty Financial affiliates ahead of the competition in the future.
"Let's face it, kids today are more brand-aware than ever," Mr. Rice said. "Establishing ourselves as a brand early on will help us from a marketing perspective."
Northern also plans to add educational areas to its Web site.
"Most children today have been raised on computers, so we have to use technology to bring more information to the client base," Mr. Stevens said. "We, as the picture of a traditional trust company, are looking at ways to broaden education."
