Why teens should start investing

By Ben Lamond and Henry Busse

CNBC reported that around 54% of teens are worried about having enough money for the future. Investing their money can help. But many teens don’t know where to start, how to start, or just simply don’t understand investing as a whole.   

If you invest in a company’s stock, you basically own a very small part of that company. So if the company does very well and makes money, then the money you invested can grow.

High school finance teacher Mr. Willson says teens should start investing early to set themselves up for the future. 

“The earlier you start investing, the longer it has to compound, and so the further you’ll be ahead. The longer you take to start investing for the future, the less time you have. And so you’re going to lose that valuable time to gain yourself money.”

Ben Lamond is a senior in Mr. Willson’s class. He says he had a very basic understanding of investing before taking the class. Now, he knows a lot more and feels encouraged to start.

“Investing is something I’ve always been interested in doing, but I was never really sure how to do it or what it’s all about. Now I might start investing when I’m in college. I’ll definitely start investing once I have a stable job.”

Gregg Stein works on Wall Street. He agrees that teens should start investing early. He shares a way that they can practice investing.

“What you could do is sort of set up a hypothetical portfolio where you’re not even risking any money, but you say, alright, I’ll invest 10 fake dollars in this company, and then write down what the price is at the time, and then track the price and see how you do. Try more than one, but not too many, maybe three to five investments and see how you do.”

This is a way to see if you would’ve made a smart investment or not. Mr. Willson says that people should understand how to make a smart investment before making a real one.

“Depending on what you’re investing in, there’s always the possibility of losing the money that you’ve invested. It’s extremely important to research before you invest your money. It’s your hard earned money, so you don’t want to lose it.”

Stein agrees that it’s important to understand the risks.

“I think investing and financial literacy is very important for people to know because you want to feel empowered, and not taken advantage of by someone who comes along and says, you know, we’ve got some investment scheme that will make you a lot of money.”

He wants teens to know that learning the basics of investing isn’t as hard as it seems.

“I think it can seem overwhelming. And not just for kids, even for grownups. I think you can have this feeling that, ‘oh, it’s all so complicated, and there’s so much to know, and I can’t possibly know it all.’  I would encourage everyone to be positive and realize that there’s not as much to know as you might think… I think overall, just realize that it may seem intimidating, but just dive in and you’ll learn a lot. And it’ll be very, very helpful as you get older.”

This is also something Ben learned in Mr. Willson’s class.

“The concept itself seems hard, but it’s really not. The professionals are big business guys that wear shirts and ties. But you can turn on the computer and any average person can do it.”

If you’re one of the teens who worry about having enough money for the future, smart investments are a great way to help.

I’m Henry Busse, and I’m Ben Lamond, and this is Trojan News.