17-Year-Old Yells at Dad For Investing $5K of His Savings Without His Knowledge, Yielding Only $50 in Interest

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Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
Jun 16, 2026 12:30 PM EDT

He shouldn't have done that without asking his son first.

When you're a teenager, you don't really need to be investing your money. During that phase of life, you should be more focused on having the money that you need to accomplish more short-term goals. You might want to save up to buy yourself a car. You might have to pay for your college tuition or books. You might just want enough money to go to the movies with your friends without asking your parents to pay. Once you have enough money to cover your educational and transportation costs, you can start saving for an emergency fund in cash, not investments. Once you have enough money to cover 3-6 months of expenses, you can start investing some of your money. 

If you put your savings into investments without having any cash, you might end up with nothing if your investments go haywire. We never know when another 2008 is going to happen, so it's best to have a little bit of cash to buffer in case your investments are down for a couple of years, so you don't have to cash them out and lose the money permanently. Investing is a long game, and you shouldn't invest any money that you're planning on spending in the next couple of years. You shouldn't put money saved for a car, a wedding, or a down payment on a house into the stock market unless you're okay with losing it in the short term. 

The dad in this story decided to invest his son's savings against his son's will, which was not only dishonest but also totally unhelpful in the long term. The money has only made about $50 in interest, and his son let him know that he was extremely angry about what his father did. 

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  • Cheezburger Image 10639294464
    via Curated Lifestyle (Unsplash+)

    A photo of a teenage boy pretending to be an Australian 17-year-old yelling at his dad for investing his savings behind his back. 

  • Am I the bad guy for yelling at my dad for putting my savings into stocks?

    I (17m) recently asked to see my savings that I tirelessly worked to build, only to find out that my dad (50+M) had been putting all of them into stocks and shares
    via u/GameDemon3657
  • WITHOUT my consent. While there has been a profit (+$50 over 7 years outside of my input) where interest from the bank also would have been better. After I
    via u/GameDemon3657
  • scolded him for essentially gambling my money, he ended up giving some average parent punishments when they lose arguments before my mother
    via u/GameDemon3657
  • stepped in and said it was a complete surprise to her and said it was bad, but my dad saying it was to benefit me also stuck, making me question if im the AH
    via u/GameDemon3657
  • Edit: the big problem is that it was my savings account my parents made for ME to put my money into
    via u/GameDemon3657
  • AssociationLimp5502 If you're in the U.S. $50 dollars over 7 years in the stock market is horrible. He is horrible at investing.
    via u/AssociationLimp5502
  • GameDemon3657 OP Its aus
    via u/GameDemon3657
  • 8397183 Y DOLLARS David My fall blooded membe 1 cha
    via Debora Cardenas

    A picture of Australian money.

  • AssociationLimp5502 Still a terrible return.
    via u/AssociationLimp5502
  • Middle_Care978 In Australia you could absolutely have had your own bank account this whole time, and you certainly can now. Sorry your dad kiboshed all the interest you could've earned.
    via u/Middle_Care978
  • Kind_Ad_3336 I can't really tell your dad's intent here. Did he have access to the money? Lots of parents put their kids money in money market accounts as the return on investment can be more than interest in a bank. There's also tax implications since you're technically a dependent. Also what kind of hardworking money were you earning at 10?
    via u/Kind_Ad_3336
  • GameDemon3657 OP Back at 10 it wasnt much. About 20 on a good week, but now its around 500 a good week
    via u/GameDemon3657
  • LadySlayinem Are you sure it only made $50? Is it possible it did really well and pops pocketed the returns?
    via u/LadySlayinem
  • GameDemon3657 OP Thats actually a pretty solid point. Ill ask him about it
    via u/GameDemon3657
  • LadySlayinem Sounds to me like he was riding it out and maybe was going to put it back right as you were turning 18 but got found out and in typical defense mode tried to make it look like he was looking out for your future but it falls apart with that petty return. At the very least you still have your original deposit. Any idea what the interest would have been? I'd tell him cop the interest and we can forget it ever happened. I'm sure you're well prepared on what to do moving forward
    via u/LadySlayinem
  • GameDemon3657 OP I dont know exacts, but ive seen 1.5% floating around
    via u/GameDemon3657
  • Rusty-Shackleford000 What specific stocks? And how much money are we talking? Interest in a bank wouldn't necessarily been more.
    via u/Rusty-Shackleford000
  • GameDemon3657 OP I dont wanna say exact amounts, but upwards of 5k
    via u/GameDemon3657
  • Sparkling SandyBeach NTA. Consent aside, you should have had far, far more of a return on $5K with interest from a high yield savings account OR a basic index fund (stocks) over the last 7 years. So, not only has your dad done this without your consent "for your benefit", he's also incredibly bad at investing.
    via u/SparklingSandyBeach
  • Investments experiencing a big crash.
    via Austin Hervias

    An image representing investments experiencing a big crash.

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saving money teenagers australia interest investment parenting family betrayal
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