What finance programs and competitions are there for high schoolers?
Finance is the study of how people and organizations earn, save, invest and borrow money, and it is one of the most useful fields a teen can explore.
High schoolers can find finance summer programs at colleges, investing clubs, stock market simulations, economics competitions like the National Economics Challenge, DECA finance events, and free online courses in personal finance and accounting. Many banks and credit unions also run financial education programs for teens.
How do you pick a finance program?
Look for programs that teach how money decisions work, with real numbers you analyze yourself, not tips for getting rich. Ask what math is expected, whether you build spreadsheets or models, and who teaches it. Many strong options, like clubs and simulations, cost little or nothing. Be wary of anything that encourages teens to trade real money with borrowed funds or promises returns.
How can you start learning finance this month?
- Build a budget for your own money for one month and track every dollar.
- Start a pretend portfolio of five companies and write down why you picked each one. Check in weekly.
- Learn how compound interest works and model a savings goal in a spreadsheet.
- Read the summary of one public company’s yearly results and explain where its money comes from.
- Join or start an investing or economics club at school.
Where Nextreks fits
Budgets, spreadsheets and the reasoning behind your investment picks can go in your Nextreks portfolio, which you control. Finance rewards durable skills like critical thinking and patience, and explaining a money decision clearly is communication, all things Nextreks Challenges help you practice.
Programs in Explore are run by other organizations. Nextreks lists them but does not run or guarantee them.