Introducing Kids (and Grandkids!) to Investing Setting the stage As your kids learn more about managing their money, introduce the concept of investing. It's a great way to reinforce the ideas of goal setting, saving, and budgeting. It can help put them on a long-term path to financial independence. Keep it simple When kids are in elementary or middle school, it’s a good idea to teach kids to put money away in three buckets: save, spend and share. As they get a little older, say into high school, you can get a little more sophisticated in how you approach investing. Start by explaining that investing is a means of using your money to try to create more money. This usually starts to make more sense for kids when they start to work and they can finally realize how hard they have to work to pay for something, especially after Uncle Sam takes his fair share. Make it real You can start your investing conversation by having a family meeting. You should explain that your intention is to help your children learn that there places other than the bank where you can put your money. Instead of earning a few dollars every year in interest, they might be able to earn several hundred dollars by investing in stocks. A good place to start is with a list of things they like. This can range from where they like to eat, to where they like to shop, to their favorite electronics, what they watch on TV, even their favorite type of shoe. You can find a lot of research and report