Everything Teens Need to Know About Investing For the First Time

First things first: do research with your kid and make sure they’re gathering information from reputable sources. When they open a Fidelity® Youth Account, for example, they’ll have access to educational content to learn concepts before putting them into practice. “It’s about getting teens to learn good habits, whether they’re ready to invest or not,” says Boroff.

Plus, a Fidelity® Youth Account can be opened when they’re as young as 13, and it’s owned by them (parents can have some oversight, too). From there, teens can manage their savings, spending, and investing all in one spot, invest in stocks starting at $1, and make payments via their debit card or with mobile payment apps. Not to mention they’ll have access to most domestic stocks, ETFs, and Fidelity® Mutual funds combined with fractional shares.

Once you’ve helped your teen lay that groundwork, together you can start to think about the types of investments they’d be interested in. And you should know that there’s no secret formula for picking investments to fit their goals — just remember that they shouldn’t choose something blindly because they heard it from friends, and try not to put all their eggs in one investment basket. Do some research on things like mutual funds and ETFs, individual stocks and bonds, and more big-picture investments like a brokerage account together.

However they choose to start investing, know that your family has support. Opening a Fidelity® Youth Account is a great place to start — click here to find out how.