While some kids are known to click out of the Facebook tab on their browser as soon as they hear their parents approaching their room, Mahir Jethanandani was doing the opposite for a while. He was switching out of a Word document and going onto the social networking site to hide what he was really working on: a book on investment.
He initially kept it a secret, he said, to ward off outside influences, but eventually he revealed his secret project to his parents and went on to publish his book, titled “The Immaculate Investor,” through Amazon on Oct. 31.
As described on Amazon, “The Immaculate Investor” delves into the world of finance, economics and investing and attempts to demystify the processes of taxes, loans and retirement for students and adults. There are lessons in there about budgeting, avoiding college student debt and applying one’s skills in the workforce–topics that are especially targeted to younger people. The book can help this demographic start down “the path to understanding how money controls and becomes a major factor in your life,” said the 17-year-old Saratoga High School student.
Newly married couples and people of retirement age should also find worthwhile lessons in this book, such as learning how to combine multiple sources of income.
The first draft of “The Immaculate Investor” took him 10 days to write, but those 10 days were spent doing little else, Mahir said. He spent another 10 days revising the book this past July before sharing his work with professionals in the finance field for fact-checking.
“Keeping my audience in mind was the most difficult part of it,” he said. Along the way he said he would ask himself such questions as “Why is it relevant?” and, “Why does it matter?”
In order to write the book, Mahir tapped into the knowledge he has accumulated over the course of nine years, from the opening of his first bank account to the advocacy work he’s doing at state level now. He made his first investment at age 7 when he bought stock in Google–then worth only $32.
The source of Mahir’s interest in finance and investing lies in the unlikeliest of things: a dog. When he and his brother were younger, his parents told him the only way they’d be allowed to have a dog was to raise enough money to buy one themselves. Though that dream was never realized, the experience taught Mahir and his brother lessons that would stay with them. From there, with help from his older brother, he created a Ponzi scheme when he was in kindergarten, collecting his classmates’ Christmas money and investing it–until the classmates’ parents caught on.
“They started getting a little worried and skeptical, but we still returned a good profit,” Mahir said. “We didn’t lose any money.”
Undeterred by such setbacks, Mahir went on to file his parents’ taxes as well as his own and to write for financial publications. At Saratoga High, where he is now a senior, Mahir is the president of five student clubs focused on finance, business and economics.
A few years ago, he sought to change underage banking policies by launching a petition and writing to President Obama and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. He’s now working with state senators and representatives to enact a law that would increase the accessibility of bank accounts and financial services for youth whilke decreasing opening fees.
He’s also working on co-authoring a second book he expects will be published in mid-2015 that focuses on highlighting innovators and visionaries under age 20 who have had an impact on the world. Mahir is writing the book for Netherlands-based organization Child and Youth Finance International, which focuses on promoting financial education and literacy for youth across the world and especially in developing countries.
And as if all of that was not enough to keep young Mahir occupied, he said he’s using his knowledge of mathematics and computer science to create his own financial model for the stock market.
“This is just the beginning of what I have planned for my impact on the world,” Mahir said. “Maybe it will affect five or 10 people, but it’s a start at least. You’ve got to start somewhere.”
