I am a 14 year old boy and am looking to investing in a 401k or some other kind of Mutual fund or stock!

Question

Can some people give me advice about how to be successful in this kind of business!

I need help in what kind of investment or stock or Mutual fund I should Chose. I just want to get a good head start in life. I am sure am going to collage, but am not sure what am going to go for. Can you guys give idea for what should I go for thanks!

Answer 1

Have your parent(s) contact a financial planner and arrange a meeting.  You can't be in a 401k because that is part of an employment compensation package where your employer contributes a percentage to a fund.

Stick with mutual funds and long term choices.

EDIT: I also agree with the poster who suggests an IRA, that is how we are setting up our daughter's mutual fund.  Invest for the long term, IRA's are a good way to go.

Answer 2

you don't want a 401K, b/c you don't have an emploiyer to match funds and are unable to lower your taxable income.

you need an IRA. do a little research to find if the Roth IRA is the best fit for you. my hunch is that it is. an IRA is also a retirement account which helps lower taxable income by deferring taxes. with an IRA though, you can use some of the money in there to pay for school or payment on a first home (and some other expenses) without getting hit with a penalty for early withdrawal.

In the IRA, since you're young, you have a long-term investment horizon (although you might be planning to use some for school in a few years), so you can take on enough risk to invest in stocks, and you should be a long-term investor for the most part. So invest in a low-fee mutual fund like the Standard and Poor's 500 index fund. T Rowe Price offers a low fee SPX index fund. this is your best bet. if you try and just pick stocks, you'll have a harder time diversifying and your transaction costs may be higher. plus, it's extremely difficult to beat the market, so you might as well just try and match it.

Answer 3

The best investment for your future you can ever make is your education, discipline and hard work. If you save some money on the side, I would not go into stocks or funds at that point, that's for gamblers.

Get some bonds or CD's.

(Don't believe the hype for stocks as investment, there are 2000 losers to one winner)