Most Teens Interested in Investing, Few Have Started, Fidelity Reports

Among teens ages 13 to 17, 23% have started to invest, and 91% of those who don’t already invest plan to at some point, according to Fidelity Investments’ 2023 Teens and Money Study. 

The financial services firm hopes to change that, announcing a new app, Fidelity Youth, alongside the research findings on Wednesday. The app builds on the existing Fidelity Youth Account, originally launched in 2021, a brokerage account designed for teens but with monitoring options for parents and guardians—a feature maintained on the new app.

“The demand for our Youth Account offering exceeded our expectations and showed us that teens are eager to take control of their money,” David Dintenfass, Fidelity’s chief marketing officer and head of user experience, said in a statement. “The new app further positions Fidelity to support teens along that journey in a secure digital experience tailored to their needs.”

The app will be launched into a market in which three out of every four teens plan to start investing before graduating college or earlier, according to Fidelity’s study. In addition, more than half (51%) of teens reported feeling eager or well-informed on financial topics such as saving, spending or investing. However, most teens who want to invest in the future are not doing so yet, as 31% believe they are too young and 21% said they don’t know where to start, according to the report.

In terms of learning how to invest, when asked to select multiple sources from which to learn, 55% of teens chose family, 41% noted content from financial services companies and 28% listed social media as the top three options, Fidelity found, with books and podcasts fourth at 27%.

Fidelity’s app will look to contribute to that guidance for teens to invest with the asset manage, offering  educational videos, articles and tools to learn the financial basics. Teens can then buy mutual funds, stocks and exchange-traded funds directly in the app. They can create custom money buckets to organize their money and set up rules to automate saving, familiarizing themselves with the fundamentals of budgeting. Furthermore, Teens can earn money by taking actions in the app, such as completing learning modules and referring friends.

“We designed the app with a teen-friendly look and feel, a streamlined account opening process, easily accessible spending and saving features, and tailored educational content front and center,” Kelly Lannan, Fidelity’s senior vice president of emerging customers, said in a statement. “We aim to meet our customers where they are and creating a standalone mobile experience designed for teens allows us to do just that.”  

Fidelity’s 2023 Teens and Money study was conducted online among a sample of 2,081 respondents ages 13 to 17 years old and was completed from June 1 through June 11 by Big Village, which is not affiliated with Fidelity Investments.