The idea
Starting feels like the hard part, but it's really just a few steps. With a parent's help you open an account, add a little money, buy a broad ETF (a basket of many companies), and let time do the work. Doing it automatically means you never have to remember. 🚀
Words to know
- Brokerage account
- An account you use to buy and hold stocks and funds, like a bank account for investing.
- Custodial account
- An investing account a parent opens and manages for a kid until they turn 18.
- ETF
- A basket of many stocks you buy in one tap.
- VTI / VOO
- Broad index funds — VTI holds the whole US market, VOO holds the ~500 biggest US companies.
- VXUS
- A fund holding companies from around the world outside the US.
- Roth IRA
- A special retirement account where your money grows tax-free; you need a job to use one.
- Bonds / BND
- Loans to companies or governments; BND is a fund holding the whole US bond market.
Try it — no account needed
The real-life starter pack. Drag these in the right order — what you'd actually do step by step. (A brokerage is an account for buying stocks; a custodial one is held by a parent until you're 18.)
Step 1 first, last step last.
In the full lesson
- 1Put it in order
Vine has 107 lessons like this one, each written three ways so a 7-year-old and a 17-year-old both get a version that fits.
Practice with real prices
Real market data, pretend money. Learn how investing actually works without risking a cent.
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