7 in 10 Teens Want to Invest — Here's Why Most Parents Don't Know Where to Start
Key Takeaways
70% of teens aged 13–17 say they're very or extremely interested in investing, but only 14% say they actually know "a lot" about it — a wide gap between interest and knowledge
62% of parents say teaching their kids to invest is harder than teaching them to drive
73% of parents say it's very important for teens to learn about investing
Teens trust their parents more than any other source for investing advice (56%), and over half (53%) see investing together as a bonding opportunity
Teens' top reasons to invest: making more money (45%), paying for college (34%), and simply understanding how money and markets work (33%)
Source: the 2026 Schwab Teen Investing Survey, 2,000 respondents (1,000 teens aged 13–17 and 1,000 of their parents)
Ask a teenager today if they want to learn how to invest, and seven times out of ten, the answer is yes — genuinely, enthusiastically yes. Ask their parents whether they feel equipped to teach them, and a very different number shows up: 62% say walking a teenager through investing is harder than teaching them to drive a car. That gap — real appetite on one side, real uncertainty on the other — is the single most useful finding in Charles Schwab's newly released 2026 Teen Investing Survey, and it explains almost everything about why so many families never actually start the conversation.
The Interest Is Real — the Knowledge Genuinely Isn't
Seventy percent of teens aged 13 to 17 describe themselves as very or extremely interested in investing, and a striking 95% say they're at least somewhat interested in learning more. But interest and competence are two very different things: only 14% of the same teens say they actually know "a lot" about investing. That gap between wanting to learn and actually knowing is, in one number, the entire case for structured financial education — teens aren't disengaged or indifferent, they're simply under-taught.
It's not a fringe interest, either. A quarter of teens surveyed are already investing at least some money they've received as gifts or earned from part-time jobs, and nearly 6 in 10 say they first became aware of investing before they even turned 13.
Why Parents Are Stuck Too
The "62% harder than driving" statistic is worth sitting with, because it reframes the whole problem. This isn't a story about disengaged parents who don't care — 73% say it's very important for their teen to learn, and when asked why, most point to genuinely thoughtful reasons: teaching financial responsibility (69%), giving their child a head start (65%), and helping them understand how wealth grows over time (64%).
The honest issue is that most parents are teaching a subject they were never taught themselves. Sixty-eight percent say they didn't become aware of investing until they were young adults or older, and 51% openly wish they'd started earlier. You can't hand down confidence you never built — and teaching a teenager to parallel park is a lot more concrete than explaining diversification.
What Teens Actually Want to Invest In
Part of what makes this generation's interest different is what they want to put their money into. When asked which areas most interest them as investors, teens named artificial intelligence (34%), video games and gaming (28%), social media (26%), cryptocurrency and blockchain (26%), food and drink (22%), and music (22%) — the categories of their actual daily life, not abstract sectors from a textbook.
More reassuring for cautious parents: teens aren't chasing get-rich-quick swings. Sixty percent said they'd prefer lower-risk investments that grow steadily over time, compared with just 18% who favored investments that can gain — or lose — money quickly. The instinct toward patience is already there; it just needs a framework to grow into.
Where Parents Actually Fit In
Teens don't want to figure this out alone, and they don't want a stranger doing it for them either. Fifty-six percent say they'd trust their parents' advice on investing above any other source, and 53% see the whole process as a genuine bonding opportunity rather than a chore. Interestingly, though, investing is the one financial topic where that trust dips lowest: teens say they trust their parents "a lot" on saving money (62%), earning money (58%), and being financially responsible (58%) — but that figure drops to 50% specifically around investing. It's the one money topic parents are trusted the least on, which lines up exactly with the "harder than driving" finding: it's not that teens doubt their parents generally, it's that investing specifically feels like unfamiliar territory for everyone in the house.
The reassuring part: teens aren't actually expecting their parents to be experts. Twenty-seven percent want their parents heavily involved in their investing experience, and a much larger share want at least some involvement — what they're asking for is presence and guidance, not a finance degree.
You Don't Need the Answers — You Need a Starting Point
The takeaway underneath all of this data is simple: the barrier was never willingness. Teens want in, parents want to help, and the actual obstacle is structure — a clear, age-appropriate way to walk through what investing actually is before anyone touches a real account. That's precisely the gap a guided course closes: it gives the teenager a real framework — risk, diversification, compounding, how markets actually move — and gives the parent a shared activity to do alongside them, rather than a subject they're expected to already have mastered.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of teens actually want to learn about investing?
According to the 2026 Schwab Teen Investing Survey, 70% of teens aged 13 to 17 say they're very or extremely interested in investing, and 95% say they're at least somewhat interested in learning more — though only 14% say they currently know "a lot" about the subject.
Why do so many parents struggle to teach their kids about investing?
The same survey found 62% of parents consider teaching investing harder than teaching a teen to drive, largely because 68% of parents didn't become aware of investing themselves until adulthood — they're often teaching a subject they were never formally taught.
What do teens actually want to invest in?
Teens' top interest areas are artificial intelligence (34%), video games and gaming (28%), social media (26%), and cryptocurrency (26%) — reflecting their everyday interests rather than traditional market sectors.
Is it risky to let a teenager start investing?
Survey data suggests most teens lean cautious rather than reckless: 60% said they'd prefer steady, lower-risk investments over quick, higher-risk swings, compared with only 18% who preferred the latter.
How should a parent start the investing conversation if they don't feel confident themselves?
The data suggests confidence matters less than structure — teens primarily want guidance and involvement, not an expert. A structured, age-appropriate course gives both the teen and parent a shared framework to learn from together, rather than requiring the parent to already know the answers.
Whichever account or amount your teen starts with, IFA's Introduction to Investing course is built to turn that 70% interest into real understanding — covering risk, diversification, and compounding in a way that's actually built for a 13-to-17-year-old, not repurposed from an adult finance textbook.
Source: 2026 Schwab Teen Investing Survey, conducted by Logica Research, October 13–27, 2025, among 1,000 U.S. teens aged 13–17 and 1,000 parents of teens in the same age range.
