What Teens Can Do To Invest Money

United States
June 12, 2011 12:55pm CST
Investing is almost always a conversation that is limited to what adults do in the market. While their percentages are small, there are some teens that are interested in getting invested as well. If you were to give tips to teens who wanted to start investing, what would those tips be?
1 person likes this
2 responses
14 Jun 11
I'd tell them: "Give me your money!" Since they're under legal age, they're not allowed to invest in anything official except savings accounts, are they? I guess they could always try investing in collectables, since they can buy those. But then the difficulty is guessing which ones will be worth anything in the future.
• United States
14 Jun 11
You are technically correct. I had completely forgotten about that. I used to invest my own money before I was 18, but that is both very rare, and technically illegal. If it is an online account though, it is impossible for them to know who is entering the trades. I wish that they would change the laws to allow those under 18 to do their own investing. However, I feel like most teens would probably not do anything with this new freedom.
1 person likes this
15 Jun 11
I think far too many would empty their parents' accounts, which is probably why it's illegal. There's nothing to stop parents setting up access for an underage person - it's tantamount to written authorisation. I still think they should just give me their money. I'm a great investment, honest.
• United States
19 Jun 11
I didn't even think about some teens trying to do this kind of thing. I suppose that is just because it is so far from my realm of possibilities of even thinking to do something like that. However, you do have a very good point. It is quite possible that some teens would do exactly what you just said.
• Canada
18 Jun 11
Teens have much of their life ahead of them and usually don't have the money to risk by investing it. They need to concentrate on SAVING for the costs they are going to incur when they start university or college. I always kept my money in a high interest savings account. Put money in but never take it out, as the years go on you will earn a lot more interest then you would have thought!
• United States
19 Jun 11
A very good take here. I agree that teens need to save what they are able to make to put towards school. Those that are able to afford school and still have some left over (a very small number of teens) should put that extra money to work in the market. A savvy teen like this could make a good deal of money for herself in the long run.