Can a 13 year old buy and trade stocks?

Not in the UK. You need to be 18.

not legally, he could get somebody older than him(over 18) to buy stocks and trade for him though

Your parents can open a custodial account for you.
Try www.sharebuilder.com
I write a blog about investing with small amounts of money. Check it out for more ideas
http://anyonecaninvest.blogspot.com/

nope, sorry...ask your parents to look into it with you

You'll need a way to transfer money. That means you need to have a bank account. I'm not sure you could just walk in to a brokerage and start an account. There is a site you can go to called ShareBuilders. They don't require a minimum amount of cash and you can open an account for free with them. Some really cheap stocks they don't sell through their site. Anyhow that's a good place to start. Read carefully when you get on the site. They charge you to buy and sell and the price to do so is cheaper on Tuesdays. Hope this helped.

Just set up a custodian account for him or her, use his SSN, you will get $850 interest or capital gain annually.

First, congratulations on being very pro-active and getting started early! You've learned the first lesson well. The amount of time you invest is almost as important, even more important than the amount you invest. You are incredibly wise for wanting to start so young! Go for it!

OK, now for the details. As some people have said, you will need a parent or guardian to act as your "custodian" for the account. This is the law, and it is because minors cannot legally make contracts for themselves. However, stocks that are held in custodial accounts DO have your name on the account, and when you turn 18 (21 in some states), the custodian's name can be removed and the account is in your name. Until that time, however, you need to be sure that you have a custodian that you can trust, even when they might run into financial trouble.

All you need to do to start is get an application filled out with a broker to open an account. Someone like Ameritrade or Scottrade are two of my favorites (because they don't charge as much to buy stocks...about $10 per trade plus whatever the cost of the stocks you want to buy). Then you and your custodian (probably a parent or if that's not possible, some very trustworthy adult, perhaps a grandparent - whoever you think is best) work together to fill out the form, and send it in to the broker with the money to open the account. Then you can get set up to do the trading online very easily.

The suggestion to use Sharebuilder was also very good. This is a great way to get started if you don't have a lot of money yet. But it is really practical for someone who is willing to buy and hold those shares for a long time. It isn't really designed for buying and selling a lot. It's meant as a way to save and build up your holdings.

Best of luck to you.

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment:

Archive: Forum -Forum -Finance - Links - 1 - 2 - RSS - All RSS Feeds
The Causes and the Results. 0.014
Copyright (c) 2011 Financial Crisis Monday, May 28, 2012 - Terms of use - Privacy Policy