I have a boy that is turning 13 soon and I want to get him started with something to help teach him about credit, money, how the system works. What is your best advice?


I know we can open a roth for him, but is there any type of account that he can monitor a roth alongside a banking platform (especially one that bears interest)?

Can I link his 529 with that too?


I have so many questions and the internet has too many options. If you have time to give some pointers I am all ears!

he has one as a tutor to his younger siblings ... having a dad with extra money makes a job easier!

Trump Account
(partially joking, great if you get the free 1k or if family / work will contribute, otherwise a ROTH IRA is better.

529 are great for college, but can only change your investment strategy twice per year.

Set him up a ROTH IRA and match his contributions like 10% or 25 cents every $ he adds. Something to encourage saving.

evestor1 said:

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he has one as a tutor to his younger siblings ... having a dad with extra money makes a job easier!

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you are missing the point

You want him to learn about money and credit and the system.

1) start a business
2) take out a small loan -$1,000
3) use loan to buy equipment - no cash out of pocket. Using credit and leverage to start a business with assets from $0.
4) open business account
5) open personal account
6) open Monarch sub and link all loans and accounts, link 529 and other accounts he is beneficiary to
7) sell services to earn income, pay off loan, pay self

Teach him about liabilities, assets, revenue, leverage, etc with zero risk because Dad is going to back stop the loan. And he gets to watch his net worth grow in Monarch.

Diggity said:

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I would suggest he not spend 10% of the borrowed money on the Monarch app but good advice otherwise.

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fair enough.

mosdefn14 said:

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Does your 12yo have a job with reportable earned income? That is reported on your tax return? You can't contribute birthday money to a Roth.

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This was my first thought. Paid tutor for siblings also doesn't count. OP may want to consider helping him establish an S corp that he can establish reportable income through. May need to get paid by other parents for tutoring to make it a legit business in the eyes of the IRS for Roth contributions though.

My oldest is 11 turning 12 soon. We were chatting the other day about what he wants to do for his first job. Told him how I worked at a grocery store, mom worked at a restaurant etc.

Went back home and did a little actual digging and turns out at 13 you can start doing referee work for like soccer games and get 20-25 dollars a game or more. Gonna look into this as it would be a great jump into working/earning/saving etc. plus what a side job that you can maintain even as you grow up.

He could have 20k in a Roth by the time he turns 16 through his own sweat equity. His 65 year old self will thank him. I wish my parents had taught me about investing like this with my earnings before real career.

Feel like multiple lines of income are gonna be important moving forward as well.

Greenlight app is good for that age, has stock market investing as well. But definitely start a small business of some sort.

I mowed/striped soccer fields and umpired baseball games at that age around my own sports. Good money, get outside and around sports I enjoyed.

I was shocked a few months ago when he knew how to calculate simple interest. He understood compound interest but had issues getting it right.

Apparently in our crap public schools they are teaching finance to those that will listen. I asked his friend in the same class and the kid denied it was even a brought up in class.

Somewhat unfair bc we've been slowing introducing our rental business to him over the years w the idea of financing, building, depreciating, refinancing, etc.



My goal here isn't to teach him hard work, TVM, or anything other than … which platform or strategy can combine all of his accounts.

But I'm loving the pointers about buying equipment, loans, and other business building principals.

As far as establishing a credit score: We added our kids as authorized users of our credit card around the time they were 11-12. Last summer we co-signed a note on a used vehicle and insisted she was primary on the note with the intent of paying the loan off in 11-12 months simply to benefit her credit score. We checked her score last week and it was 775 and her oldest line of credit was 9 years. She's way ahead of where I was at 20 years old.

evestor1 said:

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I was shocked a few months ago when he knew how to calculate simple interest. He understood compound interest but had issues getting it right.

Apparently in our crap public schools they are teaching finance to those that will listen. I asked his friend in the same class and the kid denied it was even a brought up in class.

Somewhat unfair bc we've been slowing introducing our rental business to him over the years w the idea of financing, building, depreciating, refinancing, etc.



My goal here isn't to teach him hard work, TVM, or anything other than … which platform or strategy can combine all of his accounts.

But I'm loving the pointers about buying equipment, loans, and other business building principals.

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Personal Business Management, Money Matters, or something similar. Problem is that it's on level, so the top kids can't afford to take it. Need a course called AP Investing or AP Finance, with a Pre-calc pre-req.

aggiez03 said:

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Trump Account
(partially joking, great if you get the free 1k or if family / work will contribute, otherwise a ROTH IRA is better.

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Without legitimate earned income, Trump accounts are probably the best option until they start earning real income.