Resources

You do not need a lecture, a slideshow, or a perfect plan. You need a table, ten minutes, and a habit. Dinner is the one time everyone is in the same place, phones down, minds open. Use it as a money class. Money talk at dinner normalizes the topic. It turns “finance” from a scary subject into part of everyday life, just like school, sports, and weekend plans.

The more investors trade, the worse they tend to do. Not my opinion. It's just how investing plays out. A Journal of Finance study looked at 66,465 brokerage accounts. The most active traders earned about 11.4 percent a year while the market returned roughly 17.9 percent. That gap is not a rounding error. It's important to acknowledge when developing a trading strategy.

Here’s the truth. You don't need to be the next Warren Buffett or a Wall Street prodigy to make money investing. You just need one thing most teens have more of than adults. Time.

If you want your teen thrive in the real world, teach them these five financial habits before they graduate. Not after. Not when the student loan bills hit. Now.

Two of the best ways to start investing early are Roth and Traditional IRAs. Let’s break these down so you know exactly what they mean and why you should care right now.