Money Savvy kids know that they need to save their money to reach their short- and long-term goals.

When you save at a bank, your money will earn interest for you. The bank pays you interest for keeping your money in their bank. So you money will grow, but slowly. Your money is very safe in a bank.

To reach your goals faster, you might choose to invest your money. When you invest, your money can earn more money at a faster rate than in a bank savings account. But you can lose the money as well. That’s called “risk.”

One way to invest is to buy stock in a company, and that makes you a shareholder. It means you actually own part - or "shares" of the company. When the company you have invested in earns profit, so do you. Usually, when a company’s profits are good, the price of their stock goes up. And your stock will be worth more than you paid for it.

But, when a company loses money, so do you. When a company’s products aren’t selling well, the price of their stock might go down. That’s the risk we talked about earlier.

How do you choose a stock to buy? Talk to your family, and ask for advice. And learn about the company. Do they have a bright future? Discover who the company competes with, and decide if your company is better than they are. Also, pay attention to what’s going on in the world. News on TV and newspapers are often related to how your money performs. Here are some web sites to check out:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/

Now pick a company you think will grow, and start investing!