Investing is all about that long term gain and slow growth. Having 10 years of experience after finishing college will do so much more than Robinhood for refrigerators.
My daughter I just recently set up a ROTH for her and told her I'd match anything she puts into it, and stressed she should put something into it now from her savings, and then put some of her paycheck into it, anything is better than nothing. So far she's declined the free money. I'm going to set one up for my son, once he's at the point of having an income to justify it. She's very smart, but in some ways she's very stupid.
If you don't live in the US you will have different options, but the idea still applies
But you need to make your own decisions. For some your best ROI is dropping out of school at 16 - but for the vast majority more school will be worth it.
I don't know the first thing about student loans (interest rates, amortization periods). I never had one. I just search-engined 2025 federal student loan rates and I'm blown away by the interest rates. It looks like avoiding student loans at all costs is the way to go.
I wonder if spending a few years working (especially if your parents are able to continue to house you and pay for health insurance) and contributing to a 529 plan might meaningfully decrease the overall cost, albeit at the "penalty" of starting college later in life (at, say, 22 instead of 18).
My kids have some 529 buffer, and we are paying for my daughter's school right now (though she's paid us back for the class she got an F in). My son, it's not clear that the typical school track is going to be the right thing for him, but we also have a 529 for him that I've been contributing to.
OP, enabling: - deposits (and withdrawals) - a matching logic (which we can do manually I guess, by doubling the deposit amount) - and correct calculation of compounding (if I had $100 for 11 months and add $100 in december, I shouldn't see the value compound $200 for the whole year)
would be great.
Bonus points if there was some kind of password (even hardcoded) so that the kids can't just click the gear icon and write themselves a blank check of $1,000,000
That maximizes what they (as teenagers) can put into retirement accounts, their tax rate is 0% now, and though it doesn't teach them the deferred gratification aspect, it gets their retirement savings started.
We can talk about the deferred gratification aspect in other ways and/or later, but I'd rather they get 40-60 years of tax-free growth.