How can a 16 year old get involved in the Stock Market?

[Benny]

I'm looking to get involved in selling/buying/trading stocks.

Please don't tell me it's a bad time to get into the market, I honestly don't care what you think about that.

Just, how do I get involved at my age? It seems like most online sites require you to be 18? I mean, I could lie about my age, but they would have my social security number anyways, so couldn't I be charged for something?

So how do I start at my age?

[marshfield_meme]

To legally involve yourself in the stock market you need to get an adult to sign any contracts and allow you to invest in their name. Sorry, 16 yr olds cannot sign contracts to purchase or sell stocks.

[cinnea]

You can not legally purchase securities when you are underage. If you tried, yes, you can be charged with a crime. You can ask your parents to handle your transactions for you, or you can save up and wait. In the meantime, try tracking some stocks and see how you might do hypothetically. There are also several Wall St. fantasy games online. Read up on the subject; subscribe to the Wall St. Journal and watch the news. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said now is a horrible time to play the market.

[sousa]

For training or just for fun, you can try http://www.smartstocks.com . You don't make money through this website but it is a good training for your future. It is free to register and you have initial money. Anyways all the stock markets in the world are going down so it is useless to lose money.

[JEFF COGA]

Marsh got it right...

Don't know if this will be of interest... you can visit updown.com and learn to trade first with fake money. I use that account as my watch list... its pretty fun.

[michaelhaswings]

dont listen to that spammer chick, thats a virus web site.

[hball2]

I think it's great that you're interested in investing!

If you get anything out of this answer, remember this:

NOW IS A GREAT TIME TO INVEST!!!!!!!!

With the economy (specifically the banking sector) in a TEMPORARY CRISIS, I think that if you do your homework (not school-related, researching your companies related) then you can find undervalued companies and OUTPERFORM THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS. It's possible! How good would it feel if you walked around school saying you beat the professionals (stock brokers, mutual fund managers, college professors) at their own game?

Right now, I'm 15 years old, and I have all the information you need to get you started in investing.

It's true that you can't legally invest by yourself until your 18. BUT, you can set up what's called a custodial account, with one of your parents being the custodian. This means that if you get a custodial account you can invest and get the full rewards of investing, but all of this is overseen by your parents. I myself have a custodial account, but I think it's great that anyone can invest despite their age.

As for the online sites, there are now many online brokerages that charge less per transaction than full time brokers (such as Merill Lynch). I recommend not getting involved in those sites just yet, but instead reading the classic investing books to augment your knowledge about investing.

Here are some of the books I've read so far that have made me very knowledgeable about investing (specifically the stock market).

Learn to Earn

Beating the Street

One Up On Wall Street

The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens

Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits

The Intelligent Investor

Value Investing Today

Value Investing With the Masters

The Richest Man in Babylon

There are THOUSANDS of books about investing, just waiting to be read and to help make you money in the stock market.

I hope all this has been helpful for you. If you need any more advice, please email me.