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How To Start Investing as a Teenager
Starting early with investing can set you up for millions over your
lifetime—plus practical steps to get started today.
By R.J. Weiss CFP®
Updated September 26, 2025
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At a Glance
- Start with just $10/week to build $150K+ by retirement
- Roth IRAs let teens invest tax-free forever
- Index funds beat 80% of professional managers long-term
My grandpa helped me get started investing at the age of 19, and as you’ll see in this article, I’m incredibly grateful for everything he taught me.
Not only did his guidance influence my decision to become a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, but it’s also been extremely rewarding from a financial standpoint.
In this guide to investing as a teenager, I’ll share some of my grandpa’s most powerful lessons. Plus, I’ll give you straightforward instructions so you can begin investing the right way, with the right mindset.
First and foremost, understand one important rule: it’s never too early to start investing.
In fact, starting early gives you a huge advantage. It even makes becoming a multi-millionaire over the course of your life a realistic and achievable goal.
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Investing for Teens: The Big Ideas
If you’re under 18, you’ll need your parent’s help getting started investing. If you’re over 18, you can open an investment account on your own (we cover both below).
As a teenager, you have the ability to leverage a massive advantage called compound returns. If you understand and utilize this concept now, you can become quite rich over your lifetime.
Many teenagers mistake investing as a way to get rich quick. But good investing is more about earning decent returns over a very long period of time. That’s when the magic of compounding really kicks in.
What Happens To Every Dollar You Invest Today
Let’s have a little fun. Say you invest $500 every year from the ages of 16 through 19 — a total of $2,000 over the course of four years.
And let’s say that you’re able to earn a 7% return on your investment, which is the average annual return produced by the stock market (minus inflation, which we’ll discuss below).
Here’s what that $2,000 investment would be when you’re older:
| Your Age | Value |
|---|---|
| 65 | $49,889 |
| 70 | $69,971 |
| 75 | $98,138 |
| 80 | $137,644 |
Not too bad, right?
Let’s have a little more fun. Say you’re able to earn a bit more money in your 20s, and that from the age of 20 to 29, you’re able to invest $2,000 each year — a total of $20,000.
Combined with the $500 per year you invested from the ages of 16 through 19, here’s what your investment would grow to at that same 7% annual rate of return.
| Your Age | Value |
|---|---|
| 65 | $365,565 |
| 70 | $512,724 |
| 75 | $719,122 |
| 80 | $1,008,606 |
Alright, so you’re a millionaire. Although it’s going to take a while.
Now, let’s have a lot of fun. Say that from the ages of 30 through 65, you’re able to save $5,000 per year.
As I hope you’re beginning to see, this is where the so-called magic of compound returns really begins to kick in. Setting aside just a small amount of money year in and year out can add to up to millions of dollars over your lifetime.
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