MW The viral way to teach kids to build a nest egg and invest it wisely

By Philip van Doorn

Also: Eight companies that might hit $5 trillion in value before Nvidia does

Learning how to handle money - to avoid wasting it and to save and invest - is a subject that needs to be covered at home.

Parents will want to help their children learn to avoid wasting money and to build wealth over time. This can be a very important subject to cover at home, since it is not likely to be an area of focus at school.

Venessa Wong described a parenting concept known as "FAFO," that has gained popularity in social-media discussions. Then she looked into how four broad parenting styles can affect a child's relationship with money over the long haul.

Active investing, passive investing or both?

It is difficult for an investment fund manager to beat a broad stock-market index, such as the S&P 500 SPX. One reason for long-term underperformance might be a fund's expenses. But it is also difficult to select winning stocks. And an index such as the S&P 500 is weighted by market capitalization. This means large companies that have been performing well will have a great influence on the indices' performance. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY is 21.5% concentrated in its largest three holdings - Nvidia Corp. (NVDA), Microsoft Corp. $(MSFT)$ and Apple Inc. $(AAPL)$. And if we add two more companies - Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Meta Platforms Inc. (META) - we are up to a 28.5% concentration.

Christine Idzelis described the current environment for active managers trying to beat broad indexes and discussed passive index-investing approaches.

Gordon Gottsegen explained how, even if you prefer passive investing, you as an investor might learn from an active approach to investing or trading for a portion of your portfolio.

Nvidia is now worth $4 trillion, but it might not be the first company to hit $5 trillion

Under the leadership of Jensen Huang, Nvidia Corp. has reached a market capitalization of $4 trillion.

Last month, Nvidia became the first company to hit $4 trillion in market value. Mark Hulbert listed eight companies that might reach $5 trillion in market capitalization before Nvidia does.

More from Mark Hulbert:

-- Stock buybacks are surging. Here's why it matters to your portfolio.

-- What the drop in Wall Street exuberance means for the stock market

Tariff time - again

On Thursday, the Trump administration applied a slew of new tariffs on imports. Robert Schroder provided a breakdown of countries and industries affected by the tariffs.

Barbara Kollmeyer covered mixed and possibly erroneous signals on tariffs that were helping push gold prices to record levels on Friday.

Emily Bary explained how Nvidia and other semiconductor manufacturers have been weathering tariff threats.

More: Apple's stock gains as new announcement with Trump could help its tariff problem

Scams to watch out for and to warn others about

It might be best not to answer this call.

You have likely gotten used to receiving spam or fraudulent messages on your phone, especially recently. But some people you know might be especially vulnerable to scammers' tricks - or even intimidating tactics - used by swindlers. Here are examples from Beth Pinsker and Quentin Fottrell:

-- My relative, 80, was about to be scammed out of $40,000. Here's how I stopped it.

-- 'This scam stuff is going to get worse': A man approached me in my car - he had a crazy story

-- 'I feel shaken': A man offered to powerwash my patio for $50. He would not take no for an answer.

How to improve your career while staying with the same company

The U.S. labor market has been weakening, and if your first thought for career improvement is to look outside the company you are working for, this might be the time to think about how you can improve your lot by staying loyal. Andrew Keshner offered advice on how to improve your career while staying put.

A meme stock fizzles

The meme-stock craze encompasses efforts by individual investors to band together and buy shares of companies that have been heavily shorted by professional traders. These mass purchases can set up short squeezes to push share prices up quickly, but they can also backfire if timing is less than perfect.

A short seller borrows shares of stock to sell them immediately, waits for the share price to drop, then buys them back on the cheap, returning them to the lender and pocketing the difference.

The risk to a short seller is that if the stock price rises steadily after the short position is placed, it will cost more for the trader to buy the shares and cover the short position. If the shorted stock's price rises above a prearranged level, the short seller's broker will require collateral to be delivered, or even force the short seller to buy the stock and close out the trade.

A short squeeze is a frenzy of buying activity among short sellers racing to cover their positions if a stock has risen unexpectedly.

According to data provided by FactSet, 27.62% of the public float of shares for Krispy Kreme Inc. (DNUT) have been sold short. James Rogers explained how the Krispy Kreme meme-stock ride came to an end.

A bad trend and a better way to pay for education

Beth Pinsker writes the Fix My Portfolio column. This week, she noted that more people are withdrawing from retirement accounts or taking out home-equity loans to help pay for their children's education. This is a better way to go about it.

Related: Student-loan interest restarts today for millions. This is what you can do.

A stock-market play on data centers' power needs

Steve Gelsi covered Vistra Corp.'s financial results, focusing on the company's outlook for strong demand for nuclear-generated electricity.

More news about companies:

-- SoundHound earnings show a growing embrace of voice AI, and the stock is surging

-- CEOs are acting like it's the 'Great Recession' - and that's crushing this stock

-- Instacart says its grocery partners are starting to 'embrace more competitive pricing,' as demand forecast tops estimates

-- Why Fortinet's stock just saw one of its worst drops on record

Be careful to manage tax consequences if you inherit a retirement account

Quentin Fottrell helps MarketWatch readers solve a variety of financial problems, including some difficult family conflicts.

Quentin Fottrell - the Moneyist - helped a woman who inherited her husband's 401(k) account. It turns out that the requirements for distributions (which she wants to avoid, since they are taxed) are more onerous than she expected them to be. Here are the rules and complications to know about in advance.

More from the Moneyist:

-- 'I have never been asked for money before': My friend wants to borrow $1,600 to pay her rent. Do I say yes?

-- 'I'm scared to lose': I have $140K in a 401(k) and earn $45K a year. Can I retire in 20 years?

More on retirement accounts and deferring taxes

In the Help Me Retire column, Alessandra Malito helped a reader with a simple problem: He plans to work until he is 80. Can he continue contributing to his IRA even after starting required minimum distributions?

Another critical item: Your retirement plan is airtight - then a health crisis hits. Make these money moves first.

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-Philip van Doorn

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August 08, 2025 11:05 ET (15:05 GMT)

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