So i have 3 boys....my oldest is 13 and i figure that's a really good place to start...

those of you that frequent the stock market thread may have seen i've popped in there from time to time because im still noobish but learning and planning on getting to the point where i can trade "full time" and leave my job in the next 3-4 years and want my kids to learn at a young age what i was never taught...

so....with regards to my oldest 13 year old....

we currently have $1,700 set aside in just a little savings account for him which we still contribute to (as we do all 3 of our kids) and my wife and i discussed opening up an investment account for him to start learning about this stuff at a really young age....so my question is what's the best thing to do for a kid this young?

my guess would simply be throw money at the SPY in the form of $100 / month to start slowing showing:

1. how money grows in the market...
2. how investing when it's down is good to lower your average cost basis...

but obviously i'm open to suggestions....

the biggest point behind this is to show the kids why investing is so important....not to make tons of money before he's 18 or 21....with the goal being then once he is out working it's a habit that he will continue on his own....

and once our other kids turn 13 will follow the same steps with them....

so....good idea to do the SPY? or are there other, better options and ideas out there for something like this?

thanks texags!!!

You should give the kid a book or two, or at least start him with some education in what he's embarking on. Talk about compound interest and long term value of money (FV calcs, all that stuff), introduce him to value investing (so that he doesn't just think it's legal gambling), talk about index investing, and maybe find some app or software that he can try it out without any real money. Then in real money account you could start with index as status quo to get it invested to start, then start some individual picks if they are interested in practicing what they are learning about investing. Agree with poster above that tax advantage accounts are good option, although they would need income for Roth IRA. 529s would be good but limited investment options usually. Maybe small brokerage accounts for each?

Pacifico said:

---

Open a Roth IRA for your boys as soon as possible.

---

Perhaps when they're 15 have them start working, and then tell them you will match their income up to $7,000(or whatever limit is that year) with Roth IRA contributions.

Reminder that college financial aid will factor in assets held by your kid much stronger than assets held by you to figure out your SAI. The more money your kid has (outside of retirement accts) the harder it will be to get financial aid

https://www.millionbazillionlive.com/

Might be useful

IRS hates this one simple trick!

Just issue a 1099-NEC to your kid for made up work, have them pay 15.3% payroll tax on it and hope you never get audited

chris1515 said:

---

But I think there's educational value in picking a couple of single stocks like WalMart and McDonalds, so it's something more "tangible" and something you can discuss when driving around town and point out the stores.

---

I like this idea, because working together with your children, you can start with brands they understand and identify with and then teach them how to narrow their list through understanding fundamentals.

So they wear Nike clothes, like McDonald's hamburgers and watch Disney movies. Now let's learn about each company and how it is doing today and is likely to do in the future.

My dad started me at this age too. I picked 4 stocks in 2016 to invest in, each with around 200 dollars. Sony, JPM, AAPL, and Chesapeake Energy. Got to watch Sony double in 4 years, JPM double in 7 years, sold Apple for 20% gain over period of 3 months to watch it 3x in the next 7 years, which really hurt, and then got to watch CHK navigate bankruptcy (Rode that one down around 75% before selling). It was very helpful to me, cause it caused me to watch the market consistently from 2016-now. I didn't so much get into technical analysis or do a lot of my own DD, and still rely on my dad for a lot of suggestions, but I have still learned a lot about the market. You can for sure do it a lot differently with your kids to where they are forced to DD themselves. Also, the cnbc stocks app has a great interface for a young investor. I would have them pick individual stocks so they can see how individual stocks work, and then just watch the indexes each day, as those are shown on the front page of every major trading platform.