Anonymous wrote:Is this a thing near you? Ds has a friend doing this. He is 17 and using a parent’s identity. Ds is mad we won’t let him do it. He is turning 18 soon and I told him he is free to do whatever with his money then but I am skeptical. He says the friend makes 6k/mo doing this.

Does the friend understand how taxes work? And the need to file and pay quarterly?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes I have created accounts for my teens to do this but they are not 'making' near that amount. Mainly losses. I figure it is practice.

I am not comfortable with this being linked to my own finances at all. I am so surprised this is a thing!

My son has a custodial fidelity account. He isn’t making $6k per month, he has 2k of his own money invested and is learning about the market. He also has a Roth that I let him manage. Why is it so shocking to you that kids who earn money learn how to manage it?

But this is about day trading. Not investing.

You wouldn’t let your kid use your identity to sign up for an online casino, would you?

Anonymous wrote:People chill on the gambling fears.

I wish I had been exposed to investing when I was a teen instead of when I was thirty.

The younger someone starts the more successful they’ll be long term.

Investing education should be rolled into how to budget, the difference between a savings and checking account, and how teens should think about financial goals.

Day trading is a different animal of course and I suspect few teens are actually doing this.

I dunno, honestly I can imagine it being more than what one might assume.

It doesn’t seem like that far of a stretch to go from sports gambling (which is something somewhat popular amongst teens) which is gambling but you also need to have a bit of knowledge of the players and teams (so it seems to them like it’s less random than a slot machine or lottery)— To day trading, where there is also knowledge and seems less like gambling than a slot machine.

All are still gambling and give that sweet, sweet dopamine hit. One just sounds more respectable and less degenerate than saying “oh yeah I play online slot machines to win money”.

I got a hot insider tip!
Buy GameStop NOW, you will absolutely make 20% tomorrow when this blows up!

Agree with pp
And I think most brokerage firms - even the do-it-yourself shops - would be quick to flag a minor’s custodial account if there was true day trading going on.

Did he say how much money he was using to make that $6k?
Are the parents uber rich, so they don't care about the tax consequences of day trading?
Or is it possible, they have no idea what's coming to them when tax time comes.
Also, what platform is the kid using?
Something doesn't add up.
As for your own kid, I think he is interested in stocks/investing, but has been held back for whatever reason. There's so much in between day trading and not letting your child anywhere near stocks til they are 18.
My 10-year old knows about investing and can tell you top ten stocks to buy according to him in a minute.
I suspect the day trader isn't actually day trading.
I'm a poor who got rich buying, selling, holding. I'm all for kids learning to invest. You got to do your homework, buy and sell to learn, not just sit on them. It teaches them patience, importance of being in cash, politic, economy, taxes. They will learn how easily markets are spooked.
The sooner they learn from the mistakes they never saw coming, the better.
Stock market is not a scary place. I haven't lost money for 3 years now.
By the way, down market is the best market, and it's coming. Ignore whoever talks about 'up market' and being skillful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes I have created accounts for my teens to do this but they are not 'making' near that amount. Mainly losses. I figure it is practice.

I am not comfortable with this being linked to my own finances at all. I am so surprised this is a thing!

My son has a custodial fidelity account. He isn’t making $6k per month, he has 2k of his own money invested and is learning about the market. He also has a Roth that I let him manage. Why is it so shocking to you that kids who earn money learn how to manage it?

I’m all for teaching investing. I think it could be done much better than putting $500 in a brokerage account and letting kid do whatever with it though.

Better idea: tell kid you will fund an investment for them, but they need to do some research ahead of time to “make sure it is good”. Have them find a company they are excited to invest in and have them write up a report on it - history of the company, who runs the company, how they make money (do they make money?) , any recent big news, etc. That will be a great learning experience and worth throwing a couple hundred bucks away on whatever stock they end up choosing

Anonymous wrote:People chill on the gambling fears.

I wish I had been exposed to investing when I was a teen instead of when I was thirty.

The younger someone starts the more successful they’ll be long term.

Investing education should be rolled into how to budget, the difference between a savings and checking account, and how teens should think about financial goals.

Day trading is a different animal of course and I suspect few teens are actually doing this.

+1.

I set up an account for my son to use for investing when he was about 16. He did some day trading, but started to learn the value of a more long-term approach.

He’s now 21 and has his own investments, he has an IRA (something I sure wish I had done at that age), and is quite mature about financial decisions.

It was a good training ground for him, and I monitored it.

Anonymous wrote:Unless you’re buying and holding a la Buffett, pretty much all trading is gambling in a casino. So cut the sanctimony.

You
Don’t
Get
It

Anonymous wrote:People chill on the gambling fears.

I wish I had been exposed to investing when I was a teen instead of when I was thirty.

The younger someone starts the more successful they’ll be long term.

Investing education should be rolled into how to budget, the difference between a savings and checking account, and how teens should think about financial goals.

Day trading is a different animal of course and I suspect few teens are actually doing this.

Day trading is the subject here and it is a different animal exactly like you said. It’s been made easier than ever so I’d bet more teens are doing it.

Unless you’re buying and holding a la Buffett, pretty much all trading is gambling in a casino. So cut the sanctimony.

Anonymous wrote:People chill on the gambling fears.

I wish I had been exposed to investing when I was a teen instead of when I was thirty.

The younger someone starts the more successful they’ll be long term.

Investing education should be rolled into how to budget, the difference between a savings and checking account, and how teens should think about financial goals.

Day trading is a different animal of course and I suspect few teens are actually doing this.

We are talking specifically about day trading here. I doubt anyone is opposed to financial education and learning about long term investing. Where I am that is even a mandatory class.

People chill on the gambling fears.

I wish I had been exposed to investing when I was a teen instead of when I was thirty.

The younger someone starts the more successful they’ll be long term.

Investing education should be rolled into how to budget, the difference between a savings and checking account, and how teens should think about financial goals.

Day trading is a different animal of course and I suspect few teens are actually doing this.

Anonymous wrote:Yes I have created accounts for my teens to do this but they are not 'making' near that amount. Mainly losses. I figure it is practice.

Practice for a gambling problem