How old do I have to be to buy shares?

There is an minimum age requirement of 18 to trade on the stock market, at least you need to be 18 to open your own brokerage account. There are ways to get a parent to open an account and you then trade with their account, this is where the parent is the custodian of the account (they get to see how well their child is doing and get monitor their trades!) and to do this the child must be at least 13. In the US, the legal age to buy shares varies by state and some states require you to be 21.

Other options

If you are under 18 and really want to find out what trading shares is about then I recommended you open a fantasy trading account, these accounts are free to open and you use virtual money to trade with meaning there is no financial risk involved.

The legal age for trading shares

What age should I start buying shares?

It is important to start learning about the share market and to start buying shares as young as possible. The earlier you begin, the more wealth you will accumulate over time. Time is a very important factor in accumulating wealth over time.

For example, if your shares increase in value an average of 10 percent each year, their value will double every seven years. So if you start out seven years earlier, you would end up with twice as much wealth with this assumption. You should never expect to average 10 percent returns each year, but over time things will average out if you make good investment choices and 10 percent is considered to be attainable.

Are you underage?

If you are underage and don’t think a custodial account is for you just yet, why not practice trading shares for free. There’s no risk and no age restriction because practice accounts allow you to use virtual money before moving onto real money. We’ve put together reviews of all the major online practice accounts, to help you decide which one’s right for you.

Click here to see our practice account reviews…

If you liked this, please share. Thanks!