Money
Making
Tips your tweens can follow
starting now.
by Kevin O' Donnell
PARENTGUIDE News January 2004
So you’re the parent of a tween who is ready
to start making money. Maybe he wants to make a lot
like the 16-year-old mini-mogul in Beverly Hills who
started his own computer company when he was 11 and
has been doing real estate deals with the profits
since he was 14. Oh yes, he’s currently negotiating
for the TV rights to a major racing circuit. Or perhaps
he’s going to do what Evan and Elise have done
in Colorado and start his own chocolate company that
employs 40 people who work, while they spend half
their day in high school. Your child may just want
to start investing the money he’s gotten for
holidays and birthdays and build it into a major bank
account that will help put him through college. Whatever
he wants to do, it’s time to get started.
First, does he have an investment account? If he doesn’t,
he needs to get one. When he makes money, that money
needs to go into his investment account so that it
can start making more money for him. Not a straight
savings account— unfortunately, they don’t
do enough for you.
Now, in order to get an investment account, your child
is going to need a parent, grand-
parent or other adult, to sign up with him. He can
do all of the trading and investing but technically
you are in control until he turns 18. If he doesn’t
know how to set one up, go online to a site like www.gotmoola.com
and he’ll be up with his own account in about
15 minutes.
Once he has his own investment account he need to
make sure he is investing his money in safe stocks.
Talk to him about not listening to people who tell
him to take risks because he’s young. That’s
ridiculous! He should be making safe investments because
he is young. He has plenty of time. The people that
should be taking the risks are the ones that are out
of time and need to make a killing in a hurry. How
to find a safe stock… well, that’s the
challenge.
How about looking around at the things that interest
him? He is the future. Most of the companies out there
want him as a customer. When he finds a product he
really likes, there’s a good chance that a company
may just be on the rise. There are hundreds of places
online where he can research companies for free. Before
he put any of his hard-earned cash into a stock, make
sure he’s checked it with three sources and
he has waited a day to think it over.
Kevin
O’Donnell is co-author of Make More Than Your
Parents (Health Communications, Inc.), he owns his
own media company and has created animated TV series
such as LIBERTY’S KIDS on PBS and SUPER DUPER
SUMOS. If you’d like to send Kevin a question
you can e-mail him at Kevin@poetsroad.com.
