Teenager investing.?

Question

hey whats up everybody im 15 years old and i just wanted to know how i would invest my money in something or in some stocks.oh and if you were a bank teller and a 15 year old came into the bank with ten thousand dollars what you you say and do thanks everybody lol ahah.

Answer 1

If you really want a future in trading, read a lot and study math. Learn about the markets and how they work. After you have a grasp of the stock market, go to CBOE.com and plug into their educational tools. Good luck.

Answer 2

first of all - do NOT listen to anyone who tries to tell you that you need to be 18 to own stock.  they're blowing smoke up your ***.

if you find digging through all of a companies financial statements somewhat interesting, and have a rudimentary understanding of what you're reading, you might want to try your hand at picking stocks.

now, don't go and invest every penny you have in a single company - only what you can afford to lose.  (in a game of texas hold'em, you wouldn't put your life savings on the line if you were holding pocket kings with 3 aces showing, right?)

that said, when I was in high school my father gave me $1,000 to try picking stocks and get me interested in the market.  I put $500 into Smith & Wesson because I knew the company (used to live less than 10 miles from their HQ's, and had used their guns since I learned how to shoot), and felt that it could do something in the future.  Plus, at the time, there was a boycott from the NRA because they caved on gun safety law proposals, but the company was more that 150 years old, so I figured it wasn't going anywhere.  I picked up the stock at something like $0.32/share (btw - probably not a good idea to invest in penny stocks, but whatever).  Now the company is trading for about $5.00, but when it peaked last fall it was over $20.00!  I bought a little more than 1,5000 shares, and I've turned the initial $500 into more than $25,000 because I would sell some shares as it went up, and used the money to buy other companies.

Now, the other $500 I invested was in a tech company (this was about 2 months before the market crashed).  I lost almost all of that money, but the Smith&Wesson more than made up for it.

So like I said, don't put all your eggs in one basket, and don't use money that you can't afford to lose, but if you have a couple hundred bucks worth of birthday money or something, think about investing in companies that you know and love.

but know that if you don't put in the work and try to learn about the financial stability of a company, you are VERY likely to lose your money doing this.  if you don't want to put in the time, or just don't understand the whole financial statement thing, you should probably consider an ETF that just tracks an index like the Dow or the S&P 500, so you don't really have to put too much thought into it.

But remember - the most important thing at your age is to have fun learning how to invest properly.  if you get hooked at an early age, you might want to look into majoring in finance in college, and then who knows what - maybe by 45 you'll be the next billionaire hedge fund manager or something.

Answer 3

as crazy as this sounds. you can invest in Disney stock.  It has proven to be a great investment, they still do a great job, and you would be involved somewhat in the company,since you should be somewhat aware of Disney.

Answer 4

If you are 15 you are under the age of majority for buying stocks.   However, if you have earned income, and can prove it to the IRS, you can open up an IRA and buy mutual funds.  If you want to purchase stocks, you will have to do it with your parents through a custodial account.

As for the banks, you will likely need a parent to co-sign your account.  If you are looking to invest, and don't want the bank's relatively crappy 3% or less returns (no more than an inflation hedge at best), then you would be much better putting your money in an account with a brokerage.  Although you can purchase investments through certain banks, it's just not worth it.

You may also just want to put the money away for college or a car.  You should set up your own plan.

You can email me if you have further questions.