BWB
Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc. Common Stock
stock NASDAQ

First off, don't stress. If you are starting this early in life you are way ahead of most people. So even if you F this up, you have plenty of time to fix it.

1 - Open a Roth IRA (assuming you are in USA) this is a tax advantage account that you can put $7,500 a year. You will not pay taxes on the items you sell in this account, only the money you take out. And you will be taxed a little extra if you take it out before you are 59 years old. But it's the best way to invest long term as it has years to compound and grow without you being penalized.
Do this first, put your first $7,500 in there before you open a brokerage account.
2 - Once your Roth is full, open a brokerage account. In this account you will be taxed on gains of every thing you sell. You sell a stock for $5 more than you bought it for, you pay tax on that $5 (unlike the roth which you can sell tax free, and are only taxed on the money you take out of the account - it is treated as regular income when you take it out. If you leave it in the account and use it to buy somethign else, no tax event is triggered)
You will have to determine your risk level to decide what to invest in, but at only 18 years old i would go super risky and growth minded for at least 80% of my investment. You have plenty of time to recoup any losses with safe investments if they fail.
Also, do some research. I literally just answered this for a colleague, so here are the channels I follow on Youtube you may want to check out.
**For Tesla and Bitcoin news:**
[https://www.youtube.com/@InvestAnswers](https://www.youtube.com/@InvestAnswers) (this guy is always bullish and I think underestimates timelines, but he has been proven right on his AI picks from 2 years ago being super profitable now, so I'm following his lead on these investments with a goal of maximizing growth by 2032)
 [https://www.youtube.com/@JasonPizzinoOfficial](https://www.youtube.com/@JasonPizzinoOfficial) (general market trends and how the market relates to the 18 year real estate cycle. Much more realistic Bitcoin projections in my opinion)
**Crypto Specific Info:**
[https://www.youtube.com/@theinneroperator](https://www.youtube.com/@theinneroperator) (general news)
[Gerhard - Bitcoin Strategy](https://www.youtube.com/@BitcoinStrategy) (Bitcoin and altcoin specific videos)
**For general stock market trends and specific stock picks**
**Short term (under 1 year) -** if I see a stock mentioned by at least 2 of these guys it's usually a pretty safe investment within 3 months. normally I look for what sectors they are recommending, and then try to find the best stock within that sector. Sometimes it's one of their picks, sometimes not.
[BWB - Business With Brian](https://www.youtube.com/@BusinessWithBrian)
[https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisSain1](https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisSain1)
[https://www.youtube.com/@FinancialEducation](https://www.youtube.com/@FinancialEducation)
[https://www.youtube.com/@TickerSymbolYOU](https://www.youtube.com/@TickerSymbolYOU)
[https://www.youtube.com/@ZipTrader](https://www.youtube.com/@ZipTrader)
**Long Term investments:**
[Asymmetric Investing by Travis Hoium](https://www.youtube.com/@asymmetricinvesting)
[https://www.youtube.com/@JosephCarlsonShow](https://www.youtube.com/@JosephCarlsonShow)
[Christian Darnton | Investing](https://www.youtube.com/@ChristianDarnton1)
**General retirement/Investing info:**
[Erin Talks Money | Erin Moriarity](https://www.youtube.com/@ErinTalksMoney)

First off, don't stress. If you are starting this early in life you are way ahead of most people. So even if you F this up, you have plenty of time to fix it.

1 - Open a Roth IRA (assuming you are in USA) this is a tax advantage account that you can put $7,500 a year. You will not pay taxes on the items you sell in this account, only the money you take out. And you will be taxed a little extra if you take it out before you are 59 years old. But it's the best way to invest long term as it has years to compound and grow without you being penalized.
Do this first, put your first $7,500 in there before you open a brokerage account.
2 - Once your Roth is full, open a brokerage account. In this account you will be taxed on gains of every thing you sell. You sell a stock for $5 more than you bought it for, you pay tax on that $5 (unlike the roth which you can sell tax free, and are only taxed on the money you take out of the account - it is treated as regular income when you take it out. If you leave it in the account and use it to buy somethign else, no tax event is triggered)
You will have to determine your risk level to decide what to invest in, but at only 18 years old i would go super risky and growth minded for at least 80% of my investment. You have plenty of time to recoup any losses with safe investments if they fail.
Also, do some research. I literally just answered this for a colleague, so here are the channels I follow on Youtube you may want to check out.
**For Tesla and Bitcoin news:**
[https://www.youtube.com/@InvestAnswers](https://www.youtube.com/@InvestAnswers) (this guy is always bullish and I think underestimates timelines, but he has been proven right on his AI picks from 2 years ago being super profitable now, so I'm following his lead on these investments with a goal of maximizing growth by 2032)
 [https://www.youtube.com/@JasonPizzinoOfficial](https://www.youtube.com/@JasonPizzinoOfficial) (general market trends and how the market relates to the 18 year real estate cycle. Much more realistic Bitcoin projections in my opinion)
**Crypto Specific Info:**
[https://www.youtube.com/@theinneroperator](https://www.youtube.com/@theinneroperator) (general news)
[Gerhard - Bitcoin Strategy](https://www.youtube.com/@BitcoinStrategy) (Bitcoin and altcoin specific videos)
**For general stock market trends and specific stock picks**
**Short term (under 1 year) -** if I see a stock mentioned by at least 2 of these guys it's usually a pretty safe investment within 3 months. normally I look for what sectors they are recommending, and then try to find the best stock within that sector. Sometimes it's one of their picks, sometimes not.
[BWB - Business With Brian](https://www.youtube.com/@BusinessWithBrian)
[https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisSain1](https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisSain1)
[https://www.youtube.com/@FinancialEducation](https://www.youtube.com/@FinancialEducation)
[https://www.youtube.com/@TickerSymbolYOU](https://www.youtube.com/@TickerSymbolYOU)
[https://www.youtube.com/@ZipTrader](https://www.youtube.com/@ZipTrader)
**Long Term investments:**
[Asymmetric Investing by Travis Hoium](https://www.youtube.com/@asymmetricinvesting)
[https://www.youtube.com/@JosephCarlsonShow](https://www.youtube.com/@JosephCarlsonShow)
[Christian Darnton | Investing](https://www.youtube.com/@ChristianDarnton1)
**General retirement/Investing info:**
[Erin Talks Money | Erin Moriarity](https://www.youtube.com/@ErinTalksMoney)