Tools for a teen to invest

RedDuke said:
Thanks. Leaning towards Robinhood for ease of use. And yes, having these money conversations with her.
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NO

Forget trading. Just do exactly what you want, but forget the fly-by-nights, like Robinhood. Have her settle into some fund with a stronger firm like Schwab or TD, and let them sit. Add in over time. By the time she is ready to retire, she'll be richer than all of us.

You say she is 14. Assume you are 60. Look where the markets were 46 ago, compared to now. Imagine where the markets will be 46 years from now? Buy and hold, and fugghedabboud the rest.
 
More mature than me and I'm 49 and have literally zero saving and literally zero net worth, well 4.5K in trading account but likely blow that tomorrow so doesn't count.
 
Thank for the info Everyone. She plans to invest and not trade. I will let her make her decisions (with some vetting of course). Essentially her plan is to invest into companies which products she likes. I told her that it is not a bad plan at all. Her holding time horizon is very long.
 
RRY16 said:
Don’t listen to all these old men watering their lawns. Get her trading on RH.
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Robinhood won't be around in a few years. Either they'll be acquired for hardware or go bankrupt. After the infinite money glitch I have no idea how anyone can trust them or their risk management department. The only people I know with any real money using Robinhood either use as a way to separate, physically, their gambling funds from their retirement funds, or they are degenerate gamblers. I know no serious investor or trader using Robinhood.

OP should buy his daughter a copy of Securities Analysis and The Intelligent Investor. Maybe a copy of Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. In the mean time sack her money away in a well diversified set of mutual funds and watch her forget about it. She probably wants to be just like you. That's nice and all, but have her work through Graham's work before she considers it. Worst case she'll get bored, as all teenagers do, and have her money safely stuffed in a diversified set of mutual funds that will grow in perpetuity. Being able to cope with boredom is how you make money. Every dollar I've ever made has been made sitting on my hands. I'm an awful trader if you ask me to make spot decisions. Especially with leverage.

Steer her far and away from day trading and in general leveraged trading. There is plenty of alpha in just buying underpriced companies. If she wants leverage some day, teach her about LEAPS. Until then - nothing can beat ole Graham and his ideas.

RedDuke said:
Thanks. Leaning towards Robinhood for ease of use. And yes, having these money conversations with her.
More...

You will probably need to be her guardian for any trading account. Don't go with Robinhood. You want the process of learning to invest to be modestly painful. She should have to pick up the paper every morning and read the finance section. If you give her access to Robinhood she'll start selling at the bottom and buying at the top. Imagine if any of her friends have this ability. They will start talking and next thing you know she's buying weekly FDs on AyyyMD because she saw someone on reddit do it.
 
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RedDuke said:
Thank for the info Everyone. She plans to invest and not trade. I will let her make her decisions (with some vetting of course). Essentially her plan is to invest into companies which products she likes. I told her that it is not a bad plan at all. Her holding time horizon is very long.
More...

RedDuke,
FYI, IB has also introduced fractional shares for both Pro and Lite. Trading from the portal is also quite simple. Here's a video and link to additional info:

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=46006
https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=45718
 
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