The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens: 8 Steps to Having More Money Than Your Parents Ever Dreamed Of

This book definitely deserves a 5-star rating. Sure, some may claim that the guide is aimed at young teens by the style of writing the authors chose, but that does not take away from the information the book provides. At 19 years old, this is the first investment book that I have read. It reviewed some common knowledge of saving, compound interest, and stock market principles. However, it also introduced me to a wide variety of investment opportunities - possibly the best, the Roth IRA. It may sound silly, but I was never introduced to any of these opportunities to stash some cash for the future, but this book has certainly done that and convinced me to get started immediately. If I were a high school personal finance teacher, I would make sure this is on my required book list. It's a simple, yet important read that all teenagers can benefit from. I would highly recommend it to anyone who desires to be financially fit. This book will help you become a winner in the big game we all play: life.

highly recommend this book to those of you who are in high school or before, im currently in college right now and had i read this book and made the time and investment into learning and attaining the insightful information this book has to give, i probably could of saved a whole lot of money in high school and into college. there are a lot of young americans out there who just dont "know" (whether its because their parents didnt have the time or knowledge to properly show their kids) on how to save and spend wisely. this book puts into perspective a very important life skill many individuals must have, in order to be financially savvy growing up. anyways if your a rookie at banks and money savings i highly recommend this book.

As the author of The Teen's Guide to Becoming a Millionaire , and a frequent follower of the Motley Fool, I was very interested to see what David Gardner had to say about investing for teens. The promise of the book is very grand: eight steps to having more money than your parents ever dreamed of. I wanted to see how well the book lived up to its promise. Overall, I would say that this book does a good job in several areas. In each of these cases, Gardner takes a complex topic and distills it down to the basics in a form that teens can understand. The eight steps themselves are very solid, and a person can reliably follow them and be far better off than someone who doesn't follow them. The eight steps begin with helping teens set goals and make plans. They help teens have an understanding of how they can earn money (which becomes the seed of their investments) and to begin saving the amount that is needed to start investing. They then move on to teaching teens the basics of the financial system, including banks, credit unions, brokerage firms, insurance, etc. Then, the eight steps moves on to understanding how the stock market works, and finally to an understanding of mutual funds. Finally, they describe how teens would need to go about setting up a brokerage account and start investing. Much of this seemed very basic to me, personally. But, as I talked with my own teens about this, it was quickly clear that teens don't get this information from a high school education. One of the reasons it seemed so basic to me is that I've been working with this for the last twenty years. But it is all a necessary foundation for someone who has not been taught this in school. The second half of the book was dedicated to investing in shares of individual companies. This included finding great companies, tracking them to determine their performance over time, understanding how financials of companies work, and crunching the numbers. It also covers how teens can set up an investment club. There was only one area where I felt that I still wanted additional information. I said a minute ago that the book took a complex subject and simplified it down. In certain areas, it seemed to stay too simple. There were a couple of areas where I could see that a teen would need additional information in order to move forward. While the simplified explanations were good, teens could benefit from being directed to additional resources, in order to expand their understanding. Other than that, the content of the information was very good. Teens who are interested in investing will benefit from reading The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens.

Bought this for my 17 year old grandson and he reads it religiously . Easy to comprehend and has inspired him to save and invest. Start them young, because they don't get this knowledge in school.

This is an amazing book for teaching kids about personal finance. Some have criticized some of the dated examples. In my opinion that doesn't matter as the principles taught are timeless. We have two teenage boys and review a chapter a week. They have been interested and are learning about the time value of money and the importance of not over spending. This should be required reading in every high school.

I found this book bery useful and enjoyable to read I can only recommend it to everyone who wants to gez into investing

Great source for teens to have. I wish this was around when I was a teen.

The overall concepts in the book are presented well, but the details are out of date, especially telling kids they can expect an average of 11% annual return each year from the stock market. Wish that were true today but, sadly, it takes a lot more work to get that kind of return. If teenagers read this and believe it, they will be sadly disappointed at reality. Still, much of the book - saving money, defining compound interest, explaining owning stocks vs. mutual funds, etc. - is still relevant and well presented.

The guide was written 10 years ago and is focussed on US teenagers. Whilst the principle statements are valid, being 'everyone can be a millionaire at retirement, the compounding and the time works in your favour, and adopt a saving habit', the style of writing may be a bit jazzy. The examples may also be a bit unrealistic in the UK: which UK teenager can chose between buying a car and putting some money away. The book is written by a commercial organisation and there is some advertising noticeable.

This book is a great tool when it comes to teenagers savings, not only for their future investment needs, but also for their day-to-day or monthly expenses. Perfect for school and life in general.

It gives you a perspective of the stock market and how to find companies that are good enough to invest in.

Fast and good. Thank you!

Bought this for my son in grade 12 to review. He found it easy to read and understand! Great practical read and conversation starter.