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Most parents want their kids to grow up financially confident. But between allowance, birthday checks and the occasional “Why can’t we buy a pony?” conversation, it’s easy to miss key opportunities to teach them how investing actually works.
“Getting kids investing early helps normalize money as a tool rather than something mysterious or stressful,” says Jessica Andrews, general manager of Lenora Family Office, Multi-Family Office and Impact at Brighton Jones in Seattle. “It builds familiarity with how money grows over time and introduces the idea that patience and consistency matter more than quick wins.”
It also creates a foundation for healthy conversations about values and long-term thinking.
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The good news is that you don’t need a finance degree or a color-coded lesson plan to teach your kids about investing. A few simple, hands-on habits can make investing part of daily life. Whether your child is curious, cautious or convinced money comes from the Tooth Fairy, these five strategies can help them start investing with confidence in no time.
1. Talk early and openly about money
Perhaps the best financial foundation you can build for your kids is one that doesn’t make money feel taboo. Making money part of everyday conversation helps normalize it in daily life.
“I like to suggest families talk about ‘money moments’ at the dinner table,” says Mike McCracken, president and founder of Wealth Guide Financial in Maple Grove, Minnesota. Each person shares one thing they learned about saving, spending or a stock pick that might be engaging to talk about.
“Anything just to keep the conversation flowing about money,” McCracken says. “This will plant the seed that talking about money is normal and a positive part of life.”
The trick is to keep the topics age-appropriate, though.
“It’s never too early to start talking about money, but investing concepts tend to land best once kids can understand cause and effect,” Andrews says.
For many families, she feels that’s probably around ages seven to 10. This is “when children can grasp ideas like saving, growth, and delayed gratification.” At younger ages, focus on awareness, curiosity and confidence, she says.
You can use age-appropriate analogies to help concepts land. For younger kids, McCracken likes: “Money is like a seed, if you plant it and wait, then it grows into a bigger tree.”
As teens, when you may want to introduce the concept of a Roth IRA, this can evolve into: Now that we have planted all those seeds and you know it’s going to grow into a big tree, would you like to pay taxes on the seed or all the branches and leaves of the tree?”
2. Use paper trading apps to simulate the real thing
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Once kids are old enough to understand investing — probably about the time delayed gratification starts to click— you can bring in more “fun” learning tools.
Investing simulation apps such as Investopedia’s free Stock Market Simulator or The The Stock Market Game by the SIFMA Foundation let kids practice buying and selling stocks with virtual money, using real market data. It’s a safe way to experiment and let kids see how different choices play out without risking actual dollars.
“Kids like the interaction of apps that create virtual investing accounts,” McCracken says. He recommends combining stock types for comparison. For instance, you could encourage them to invest in a dividend-paying stock such as Target (TGT) alongside a growth stock like Alphabet (GOOGL).
These platforms also help kids connect the dots between news headlines and portfolio performance. When a company reports earnings or a big market swing hits the news, they can log in and see how their pretend holdings respond.
That said, it’s important not to let the simulator turn into day trading or to gamify investing too much.
Kids may naturally want to react to every headline or market blip, but that’s the perfect moment to reinforce the opposite lesson: Real investors think in years, not news cycles. Help them notice how dramatic-seeming events often fade quickly, and how companies with solid fundamentals tend to recover over time. The goal isn’t to teach them to outguess the market; it’s to show them that patience usually wins out over impulse.
3. Open a real brokerage account when they’re ready
When your child has actual money to invest and seems comfortable with simulated investing, you can open a real brokerage account to start actually investing.
If your child has documented earned income, a custodial Roth IRA is a great option as it gives the best long-term tax advantages. The money grows tax-free and can be withdrawn without taxes in several situations, including retirement, a first-time home purchase or to cover certain medical expenses.
If your child doesn’t have earned income, there are many other options, says Ronnie Gillikin, president and CEO of Capital Choice of the Carolinas in High Point, North Carolina. You can open a 529 plan for education or use standard UTMA or UGMA custodial accounts.
After July 4, 2026, “Trump Accounts” will be available for eligible children. “The $1,000 from the government won’t be available to all, but most children between birth and age 18 will be allowed to put away $5,000 a year into the account,” Gillikin says. “There are more details to come, but it is worth keeping in mind.”
An actual investment account of any type gives kids their first experience with real ownership. They can buy fractional shares, invest in funds, track dividends and see how long-term investing actually works with real dollars at stake.
And the amounts don’t have to be large to matter. As McCracken puts it, “even $500 to $1,000 per year starting at age 12 can be life-changing income by age 65,” thanks to the power of compounding.
The goal isn’t to build a massive portfolio in middle school; it’s to help them build the habit of saving and investing early, when time is on their side.
4. Let them invest in companies they know
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One of the best ways to keep your kids engaged is to make investing as tangible as possible. And a great way to do this is to let your kids own a piece of the companies they use every day. For example, they could buy small amounts of Disney (DIS), Apple (AAPL), Nike (NKE) or even McDonald’s (MCD), McCracken says.
“This kind of emotional connection turns investing into something personal and even fun,” he says. “It even increases the chance of an early investor to stick with it for life.”
More importantly, it helps them see that investing represents ownership in a real business, not just numbers on a screen, Andrews adds. “From there, the emphasis should be less on short-term gains and more on building good habits: contributing regularly, staying invested, and giving time a chance to work.”
It’s also worth reminding kids that investing isn’t only about buying their favorite brands. Familiar companies are a great entry point, but they’re just the starting line.
The real lesson is understanding what makes a business worth owning, not just what makes a product fun to use. Helping kids look beyond logos and into things like earnings, competition and long‑term prospects keeps the focus on thoughtful investing rather than impulse buys.
5. Match their contributions to build the habit
Kids respond to immediate feedback, and investing is famously slow. One way to speed up the reward is with a simple match. You can match what they save either dollar to dollar or even fifty cents on the dollar. This gives them a quick win while reinforcing the long-term habit of saving.
And as an added bonus, it also primes them to appreciate that employer 401(k) match at future jobs.
McCracken’s own parents used this strategy when he was young. They matched any money he set aside in his brokerage account, with one rule: He couldn’t touch it until college. “It served me well to teach the value of allowing compound interest to take effect,” he says.
The point isn’t the size of the match; it’s helping kids feel the reward of consistency. When they see their contributions grow faster because of your boost, and then grow again through compounding, the habit becomes sticky in a way lectures never could.
“The most impactful part of teaching kids to invest isn’t the account itself, it’s the relationship it creates around money,” Andrews says. “When parents use investing as a shared learning experience, it builds trust, confidence, and a sense of stewardship that carries into adulthood.”
