Investing has become a hot topic among U.S. teenagers, with a majority expressing interest in entering the markets early in responding to a recent survey by Charles Schwab.

Speaking with 1,000 teenagers, the survey found that 70% of respondents said they were very interested or extremely interested in investing. The two most common motivations teens gave for investing were getting more money (45%) and paying for college (34%).

Teens reported the strongest interest in investing in artificial intelligence (34%), video games and gaming (28%), social media (26%), cryptocurrency and blockchain (26%), food and drink (22%), and music (22%). Furthermore, 19% of teens said they wanted to invest in electric vehicles, and 18% chose makeup and beauty.

Of 1,000 parents of teenagers who took part in the survey, 73% said it is very important for teenagers to learn about investing. When Schwab asked parents to select reasons why, 69% said investing would teach financial responsibility, 65% said it would give their children a head start financially, and 64% said their teens would learn important concepts like increasing wealth over time.

The results of the survey also suggested that many teens recognize the value of patience in investing: 60% of responding teens said they preferred lower-risk investments that grow over time, compared with 18% who favored investments that can gain—and lose—money quickly.

The growing interest comes as students and advocacy groups push for financial education to be treated as a core academic subject. The National Financial Educators Council’s new initiative, Make Financial Education a Core Subject, calls for finance and economics to be taught with the same rigor as math, science, English and social studies. The campaign includes a national petition aimed at elevating financial literacy within school curriculum.

In a national survey of 1,281 high school graduates conducted by NFEC, 88.7% reported that financial education was as or more important than traditional academic subjects for real-world readiness. In recent years, U.S. high school students have shown stagnant financial literacy, with average test scores consistently falling below the NFEC’s minimum proficiency benchmark. In 2026, high schoolers scored an average of 67.4%, an increase from 64% in 2025, but down from 66.2% in 2024.

The Schwab Teen Investing Survey, conducted online from October 13 through October 27, 2025, included 1,000 teens aged 13 through 17 and 1,000 parents of teens in the same age group.