Quote:
Originally Posted by wutamess
She got close to $300 for her 13th. So I told her maybe we should invest it? She took the bait and said sure.
She's only 13 and it was a gift so she wouldn't qualify. Was thinking about opening up a brokerage account in her name and letting her play with it on her own.
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That's a terrible idea and sets a very bad early example about "investing." And no offense, but seeing this post and some of your others, makes me think you don't know a ton about investing.
Investing for most of your money should be about long term gains, not short financial success (which many times leads to total loses). "Playing around" with a brokerage account could lead to a few wrong clicks and that $200 invested could turn into owing thousands of dollars. If you don't understand this concept, than a brokerage account is also not for you.
I would suggest taking that birthday money and putting it into a savings account, teaching the lesson of rainy day fund or saving up for something in the future. If you allow your daughter to do jobs around the house, start paying her small amounts and documenting it. Once she reaches a certain amount, opening up a Roth IRA would be the best investment option you could give her long term. This is what my parents did for me when I turned 15 and had a summer job.
I am totally against teaching individual stock buying as a get rich quick scheme. If I lost all the money in my brokerage account, I'd be fine. It's play money for me and most should treat it as such. I pump my 401k and Roth IRA for retirement, and so should most people.