Learning to invest is the single biggest step we can take on our journey to financial freedom.

And while it incredibly important to teach teens  how to invest, it is equally important to ensure that they first have a good grounding in basic financial literacy.

Yet there seem to be scores of  schools and other educational institutions that  are jumping the gun and teaching kids “how to invest’, without any prior knowledge of money management.

I believe that’s irresponsible and reckless.

Kids first need to learn how to develop a proper money mindset and how to distinguish between good and bad debt. They need to understand  why it makes no sense to start investing on one hand, while building up huge credit card debt on the other.

They also need to understand the importance of having an  emergency fund and how to budget smartly so that they are able to live below their means.

And they need to understand the concepts of risk capital and due diligence.

No investing program worth its salt will teach kids about dabbling in the stock market and other investments without first covering all the above mentioned topics in detail, yet sadly that seems to be the norm.

And just reading Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad doesn’t cut it either. We have scores of parents asking for their kids to be directly enrolled in our Investing program without first doing the Teen Millionaire program because their kids have read Kiyosaki’s best-selling book.

We are  strict about not allowing kids to join our Investing program unless they have completed a  fundamental money management program and we do this for their own good because it’s the right thing to do, it’s also the smart thing to do.

So please, before you enroll your teenager in an investing program, make sure they have gone through a  good financial education program so that they are able to fully leverage the knowledge they gain, avoid rookie mistakes and then sail confidently into the wonderful world of investing.