As I’ve written before, growing up I didn’t have much of a financial education. In my youth, it didn’t seem to matter—I had my life ahead of me, and plenty of opportunities to make money. Plus, I was focused on the now, not the later. But, as I got older, I realized that I’d done myself a disservice. That’s why I decided to put together the 3 things I’ll teach my kids about investing. Right now, they’re still too young to care about finances, but when they get their first jobs, this is what I’ll show them. 1) Start Early Maybe the most important part of all of this is getting started in thinking about your future as early as possible. That doesn’t mean kids need to be investing in middle school, but it’s important to start learning early. Investing isn’t something they teach in school, unfortunately. That means getting involved as a parent. Showing them resources, talking to them about what it really means to plan for retirement, how they can set up a 401k, an IRA and how they can learn to invest on their own, right from home. 2) Practice makes perfect Just like anything, the key to success is practice. You have to put your hours in. Work ethic will outweigh smarts any day. And the same goes for investing. The trouble was, I didn’t want to practice with my own money. That seemed like a great way to go broke, and quick. That’s why I was so grateful to have found Try2BFunded. Not only was I able to access their trial runs, I was able to invest with money that wasn’t my own. By enforcing a qualifying round, it also meant that I was able to practice different approaches to investing, and figure out what kind of investor I wanted to be. I ended up making multiple accounts just to try different strategies. That was great because it also let me practice engaging with risk. Which leads me to the next important thing I’ll teach my kids. 3) Mitigate Risk It’s tempting to go all in on investing. Especially when you start using a program like Try2BFunded and see the daily returns start piling on. But good investing is based on the long game; quick moves end the same way gambling does: not well. With the Try2BFunded qualification system, every trader has to show that they understand how to find the proper balance between adventurous investing and overly risky moves. That’s important because it teaches you how to build an investing technique that’s built to last. No one wants to be a flash in the pan, especially when it comes to your life savings. Of course, there’s so much to learn about investing, but I think starting my kids off with these basics is a great way to help them step into adulthood. By starting early, practicing and learning how risky they want to be, they’ll be well ahead of the competition. And, most importantly, they’ll be prepared. And that’s all a mother can hope for.