As a parent, who also happens to teach personal finance classes, I am always looking to give my own child advantages to understand or introduce topics that I cover with much older students. During class, we’ve used the Investopedia, Stock Market Simulator & I brought that to my own house for my child, who’s a Middle School student to use. This site starts you off with a fake investment account valued at 10,000 fake dollars and you can do all of the things a regular stock account can do: Buy/Sell/Trade/Hold and the site tracks your progress for as long as you remain involved. While I don’t think my newly-turned teenage daughter is on the verge of becoming a day trader, the skills that can be gained from this activity are valuable as they start to make financial decisions.
You can try for yourself or your child at this site: https://www.investopedia.com/simulator/ and begin to sow the seeds of positive investment skills. This tool is very and very applicable to the future for any budding investor. I am sure there are other simulators out there, but Investopedia’s gamified approach to investment not only makes the site user-friendly and fun, but also is a site that your student (or you if you’re learning) will come back to.
Jon Butchko 