Starting off

>>18602398
No. The fucking stock market. Oh man you seem disillusioned already. Stock market is literally gambling with your money so thats fucking stupid unless you have a lot of capital to throw around.

Just fucking work a full time job and save money thats it. Give yourself some more time to grow up. Dont dive into something without and i mean without years of planning because shit can change on a dime.

>Is there anyway I can get into the stock market at this age
www.wisestockbuyer.com/2012/06/can-anyone-buy-stocks/

>pursuing an education is probably the best route to follow
Not necessarily. Depends on what you want to do versus job availability

Word of advice: have your school paid for instead of taking out loans.

Don't think about the stock market. You don't have any money so you can't make money on the stock market.

Get a skill that will allow you to contribute to the economy. When choosing your major, always ask the question: "What do people with this major contribute to the economy?" If you do that, you have a good chance of getting a good, high-paying job.

>>18602406
Also, start taking a class or two at a community college; cheaper way to get started.

Talk to a counselor. They are good at pointing you in the right direction.

>>18602402
All I see in /biz/ is investing in cryptocurrency, I feel like I'm really missing out on something that could become a lot bigger in the future

I keep seeing the conversion from 1 bitcoin to USD & it only rises.

I know I may not have that much money right now but the earlier I get invested in something that has a lot of potential to grow the better, right ?

>>18602406
I live in CA, so it is legal for me to start investing it seems ?

I'll certainly keep that in mind, the only way to have it paid for is through scholarships or from my own money though it seems

>>18602409
Like the response to the first post, even though I don't have that much money to throw around wouldn't it be best to start early ? I'd like to at least learn some trades of the stock market

I will also keep that in mind, that's actually a very useful bit of info so thank you

>>18602411
That's what I'm leaning towards now

>>18602452
Crypto is a meme currency. /biz/ likes trolling the fuck out of wannabee investors with that shit.

And the barrier for investing isn't so much about your age as it is the money available. If you have less than 5K USD then you would be better off putting it in an emergency fund or saving it for college.

Focus on making a plan for college. A good degree with internships under your belt will blow the fuck away anything you can hope to make trading penny stocks on the open market.

>>18602398
You CAN invest at your age, but you probably shouldn't. Two separate rules of thumb apply here. One says you should have at least 6 months worth of living expenses in a nice safe bank account before doing any gambling. The other says that you should have at least $1000 to invest, because anything less can't get you much return.

And when the time comes to invest, look into no-load index-linked mutual funds (and if you don't understand any of those terms, look them up.)

As to education, in the USA you don't really have to choose a major until your third year, since most of the first two are filled with required-for-everyone courses and shopping-around introductory courses.

Bu first decide if college is for you. There are alternate roads to success, including learning a trade. The world will always need plumbers.

>>18602402
>disillusioned
>stock market is gambling
>you might lose it all!!!

Disillusioned is you, m80, not OP.

Look, OP, I don't know your financial situation, but I'd suggest that you pick an ETF (exchange-traded fund) and use it as you would a savings account. The Vanguard ETFs perform pretty well. VTI is my go-to, personally.

A savings account will net you ~1% in interest every year. VTI is relatively low-risk and should net you at least 10% / year. That's better than a savings account.

Will you become rich putting money into ETFs like VTI? No. But you'll be making your money work a little harder for you, and that's always good.

Picking individual stocks is a tough proposition, and I wouldn't recommend it unless you've got the time on your hands to really pore over a company's SEC fillings, their earnings, assets, expenses, etc. etc. compile it all into a spreadsheet and somehow manage to make sense of it all in order to assess whether a company is under or over valued.

You're young enough that now would be a good time to start putting your money to work. I'd recommend it.