Mỹ: Làn sóng đầu tư tuổi teen không phải 'thử để biết' | VTV24

Key Concepts

• Early Investment: Teenagers in the US are increasingly engaging in stock market investments from a young age.
• Financial Literacy: Growing emphasis on financial education in schools and at home.
• Compounding Interest: The advantage of starting early to benefit from the power of compounding.
• Custodial Accounts: A mechanism for minors to invest under parental supervision.
• Investment Platforms for Minors: Specialized platforms designed to facilitate investing for young people.
• Risk Management: The importance of parental guidance and educational tools to mitigate risks.
• Financial Independence: Teenagers' aspirations for early retirement and career freedom.
• Fraud Prevention: Measures and awareness needed to protect young investors from scams.

Teen Investment Trends in the US

The transcript highlights a significant trend of teenagers in the United States actively participating in the stock market and other financial investments. Examples include:

• Sofia Castiblanco (17): Owns a Tesla and invests in stocks like Apple and Amazon. She started earning money at 14 through social media content creation and was encouraged by her parents to invest a portion of her income. She invests thousands of dollars through custodial accounts managed by her father on platforms like Shark Swap, Edward Jones, and Robin Hood. Sofia emphasizes that there's no minimum age to start investing through custodial accounts and attributes her success to a business-minded and risk-tolerant mindset.
• Maha Komuraavelli (16): Manages a $7,000 stock portfolio, with a significant portion allocated to tech giants like Amazon and AMD.
• Kaida Benz (13): Used $1,000 earned from chores to invest through the children's investment platform Winl.
• Mizup (13): Invests weekly through a custodial account managed by her mother, focusing on companies whose products she is familiar with, such as Netflix and McDonald's.

These young investors are not just experimenting but are preparing for significant financial goals like buying a house, building retirement funds, and achieving financial freedom.

Drivers of the Trend

The shift towards early investment among teenagers is attributed to several factors:

• Parental Influence: A generation of parents who regret starting late in investing are now actively encouraging their children to begin early. This is a new phase where investment culture is spreading from adults to adolescents, nurturing them as potential investors from ages 13-14.
• Financial Education Expansion: Personal finance has become a popular subject in US schools. It is projected that by 2031, 30 states will make it a mandatory part of the curriculum.
• Teenager Aspirations: Young people are driven by a desire for financial independence and early retirement.

Expert Insights: Dr. Nguyen Minh Nguyet

Dr. Nguyen Minh Nguyet, an Associate Professor of Financial Mathematics at Youngstown State University, USA, and a parent who guided her children into early investing, provides valuable insights:

• Parental Support: Many US parents encourage their teenage children to invest early to leverage time and compound interest for long-term financial stability. This is seen as part of comprehensive financial education, alongside saving, budgeting, and expense management.
• Investment Mechanisms: Parents open retirement and savings/investment accounts for their children from a young age, encouraging them to invest a portion of their earnings from part-time jobs. They utilize user-friendly investment apps that simplify learning about the stock market and its risks.
• Supervision and Risk Management: Parental support is accompanied by strict supervision. Parents set investment limits, explain risks clearly, and encourage small-scale experimentation. They also promote participation in financial courses at school or in the community for practical learning and risk avoidance.
• Risks of Early Investment: The primary risk for minors in financial markets is falling victim to financial scams. An example cited is a student in Vermont who lost thousands of dollars intended for college in a cryptocurrency scam. Teenagers are easily attracted to huge, unpredictable profits and can be misled by virtual financial schemes. Some confuse investing with speculation, follow trends, or are drawn to speculative assets like AI or cryptocurrency stocks.

Financial Platforms and Teen Investor Protection

Financial platforms in the US are adapting to support teenagers' investment activities while safeguarding their interests:

• Custodial Accounts: Due to legal restrictions preventing individuals under 18 from opening investment accounts, platforms offer custodial accounts. Parents open these accounts for their children, who then have full control over investments and inherit the assets upon turning 18.
• Platforms like Fidelity and Greenlight: Allow teenagers aged 13-17 to open investment accounts linked to parental supervision. All investment activities are reported to parents, who can control them by setting limits on capital and transaction frequency.
• Practice Accounts (Paper Trading): Many companies offer simulated investment accounts that mirror the real stock market. These provide users with initial virtual capital to practice investing, serving as a valuable tool for anyone learning to invest, not just teenagers, to avoid real-world risks.

Conclusion: A Disciplined Generation of Young Investors

The involvement of young children in investing, guided by parents and schools, is cultivating a disciplined generation of teenage investors. On platforms like Greenlight, most teenagers set up automatic weekly savings and investment plans, a habit many adults struggle to maintain. These young investors have clear, long-term goals, focusing on purchasing homes, funding college education, accumulating assets for career freedom, and planning for retirement, rather than immediate gratification.