- Do you remember what you were doing at 17 years old?
I can tell you I don't remember and even if I did remember,
I probably wouldn't share it with you
because it would be pretty embarrassing.
But no, seriously.
I know the one thing that I was not doing at 17 years old
was thinking about investing.
So anytime that I have a 17 year old or any teenager
that has either read my blog or watched me on YouTube
that has contacted me or messaged me and asked me,
how do I get started investing?
Like that blows my mind.
Like I love it.
I love the fact that teenagers are ready
to get started investing before they're legally adults,
and they're coming to me to ask me how to do it.
Now I had a recent 17 year old
that wanted to start investing that contacted me,
and I want to share with you what I shared with him
on giving him some actual steps and strategies
that he can get started invested today.
So what did I share with him?
Well, we're gonna find out right now.
(upbeat music)
I mean it's seriously crazy
when I think about a 17 year old, a 16 year old.
I had a 12 year old comment the other day
that wants to get started investing.
It blows me away because
that wasn't even in my vocabulary in my teenage years.
I mean it wasn't even really in my vocabulary
until almost my mid-twenties.
Now a lot of it was my upbringing.
I didn't have any family members
that really talked to me about investing.
I didn't really have any interest in investing.
I mean, I struggled with math when I was in high school.
So, to invest, to make money, to make return on investment,
I mean, none of that interested me at all.
I didn't even know what a stock was
probably until I was in college.
So the fact that I have these teenagers contacting me
that want to get started investing,
I love it.
I love it because...
I love it which I want to talk about more
in an upcoming video,
but the reality is this.
If you start investing in your teenage years,
so the 17 year old which I'm getting ready to share
with you what I shared with him.
So he's gonna get started investing
and maybe it's going to be stocks,
maybe it's going to be mutual funds,
maybe it's going to be something else.
Chances are whatever he will invest into,
he may or may not make any money, right?
Chances are he'll probably lose money.
And that's okay because he doesn't have a lot of money
to get started with.
So, he might not make a huge return,
or he might take a little bit of loss
on his initial investment.
But what he's going to get out of this
is so much more experience
than anybody that is watching YouTube videos,
that's reading blogs,
that's reading books,
that's doing all the research
before they actually make their first investment.
Because you learn so much in actually doing
instead of reading about how to do it.
You can do analysis all day long.
You could do research all day long.
But until you actually go out and do it,
you're not gonna learn anything.
You learn so much more by taking action.
So anytime I see these teenagers
that want to get started investing,
that want to invest into something,
I love it because they're gonna be so far ahead of the curve
because they're gonna go through all those initial struggles
that most people do when they're older
and have a little bit more money to invest.
Because they haven't gone through
any of the learning process
and some of the pain points that come along with investing.
Because usually what happens is that when somebody
invests for the first time,
and they lose some money, they get scared.
They get scared.
They don't understand.
They're losing money so they end up cashing it out,
and leaving it at the bank,
or they don't invest it.
And that's just opportunity lost
because they didn't leave that money there,
or they didn't have the time
or didn't really have the fortitude to know like okay,
that investment didn't work,
but let me go to plan B.
Or let me evaluate another option or other options
that are out there.
So if you're getting all of this out of the way
when you're a teenager,
my goodness, I mean you...
It's just amazing and what ends up happening is
you have so many strategic,
what I call strategic bi-products
of taking that initiative,
taking that initial investment
and taking action on it,
that by the time this person is in their twenties,
I mean, they're going to be so diverse.
They're gonna be so much more experienced
and understand the investment game.
And who knows what other opportunities it has led them to
because they've taken action?
So that's why I just love this.
So, let me go and dive into what the 17 year old asked me,
like what his question was.
And then also share the specific answer that I gave him.
So, let's check a look at what that question is right now.
Alright, so let's dive into this.
What was the question that this 17 year old asked me?
So here's the question.
"Hi, I'm a 17 year old who is looking to invest
a small amount of money around $3000.
But I would like to diversify so I won't lose it all.
Some long term, low risk,
as well as some higher risk short term.
Any suggestions on what good short term investments
I could do?
Also, I'm hoping to invest enough for a safe cushion
so I can start my own business
and focus on that without a side job."
So as you can see we've got a lot going on
with this question.
We've got short term goals, we got long term goals.
We want to start a business.
Now keep in mind we only have $3000.
Yes, I'm amazed and excited
that a 17 year old has the discipline
to save that amount of money.
But the reality is when we start
trying to diversify and splitting all this up,
it doesn't leave us a lot left over
to do a lot of things with it.
So we really have to be very specific
with what our ultimate goal is.
So is the goal short term gains?
Is the goal long term gains?
Or is it to start this side business?
Now the other thing I want to address is that
every new investor, every experienced investor,
we get really caught up in the short term gains.
But the reality is that,
let's just say that we take $1000 of this $3000
and invest it.
And we put it in the stock market.
We put it into stocks,
we put it into ETF's, mutual funds, whatever.
And let's say that it makes us 10% return
in our first year.
Okay, so how much is that really?
How much can we quantify that?
So really if we invest $1000 and we make 10%,
we've only made $100 for that entire year.
And when I share those type of returns
because the reality is that's what we're looking at.
If we can make 10% in the market,
we can make 10% on any money, any investment,
like that's a solid return.
But here's the other side of that is that
if you're trying to make 10%
you run the risk of also losing 10% or losing more.
So we get really caught up
in trying to make these short term gains,
but the reality is that
if you have this unrealistic expectation
of how much you think you're gonna make
or how much you can make,
chances are you're not even on the same page,
on the same planet.
So you run the risk of putting your money into something
that's too aggressive for money that you may need
for an emergency,
or some other goal that you're trying to accomplish.
So for the 17 year old,
I have to assume that he is making some sort of money.
I don't know if he's mowing lawns,
if he's babysitting,
if he's selling things, a lemonade stand.
I don't know.
If he has some sort of job where he has W2 income,
then I would highly suggest that he open a Roth IRA.
Now he won't be able to do that on his own.
He'll have to have a parent do that for him,
but if he's close to 18 then he could do it himself.
Once again though,
you have to have W2 income, reportable income.
You can't have like a side job
or you're getting paid in cash.
But, man, I would love to see a 17 year old,
a minor under the age of 18 opening a Roth IRA
because now we've got tax free money
building for retirement.
But also too, for the short term,
the one thing I love about the Roth IRA
is that you have access to the money that you put in.
So if he were to put in $1000 or $2000 into that Roth,
he could always take that money out at any time.
It's just the interest and the earnings
that he would have to leave in until retirement.
Now if you don't know much about the Roth IRA
or if you want to learn more,
you can check out one of my other videos
where I talk about how to become a Roth IRA millionaire,
where I talk about all the different ins and outs
of that Roth IRA.
So besides the Roth IRA the other option that I really like,
and this was the final question
that this 17 year old asked is,
using some of this money to start a business
of some kind down the road.
Now to me that is where you're gonna get
the most bang for your buck
because starting a business,
whether it be an online business,
whether it be Amazon FBA,
whether it's selling T-shirts on eBay or Shopify,
it doesn't matter what this is, right?
If there's any business
that this 17 year old can start today,
my goodness, you're going to get so much more
than just putting your money in mutual funds,
putting your money at the bank,
doing more like the traditional investments.
Like yes, you're still gonna learn a lot in that,
but man, when you have to actually start a business
and you start learning about gross margins and gross profits
and setting up an LLC,
and setting up different accounts and expenses...
Woo!
I just get all excited because
you're just gonna get so much more out of it.
And to me, the long term if you can stick to it
and you find something that you like,
even if it's not the first or second or third business idea
that you start down, that you start with,
even if it's not that,
you're gonna learn so through that experience that
this will get you the largest ROI, return on your investment
than any other things
that I've discussed in this video or other videos.
So that's the idea that I'm most excited about
for the 17 year old if they're willing to do it.
Now once again though,
there is risk at anything, right?
There's risk in the investments I've talked about.
There's risk in doing it the safe way.
There's risk in starting a business.
You have to be willing to stomach some risk.
You have to be willing to recognize
that every investment that you make,
you're not going to make money every single time.
There are going to be times that you lose money.
There are gonna be times that you break even.
There are gonna be time that maybe make a little bit.
But through all that,
eventually if you stick to it
and you just keep doing your market research,
you keep seeking mentorship,
you keep seeking other entrepreneurs, business owners,
like-minded individuals,
you will find something that will yield you
some nice profits if you're willing
to invest and just do it.
So, out of all of those,
that's the one that I'm most excited about for him,
for you, for anybody that's watching this
that is wanting to invest to get started in something.
Start some sort of business.
Obviously an online business,
there's just little to no, well not no,
but there's little upfront cost starting an online business
than a traditional business.
So that would be the avenue that I would encourage you
to look at, alright?
Okay.
So, that is my advice to the 17 year old,
16 year old, 13 year old.
Doesn't matter how old you are.
You can do any of these.
Obviously you gotta have some parents,
some guardians to help you out
if you're trying to open up
some sort of guardianship account or a guardian Roth IRA,
or custodial Roth IRA, whatever.
Either way though, you can do it.
Don't let any of these be excuses
prevent you from taking action.
Okay, I'm done.
I'm out.
This is Jeff Rose reminding you that it's your money.
It's your life, and only you can make it awesome.
Just go out and get started.
Let's do it.
Peace.
Pew!
(inspirational music)