LOS ANGELES — Don’t let their age fool you, Rachel Carter, 16, and Jada Raybun, 15, have already invested $100,000 into the stock market. Technically, it wasn’t real money; it was in simulated cash as part of the 100 Black Men of Los Angeles and Wells Fargo Junior Investment Program.

The program teaches high school students the fundamentals of the stock market by allowing them to create a mock investment portfolio to buy shares of companies, then analyze its growth over the course of 10 weeks.

“[Some of what we were looking for was] if the company showed growth or expected growth. If they operated in a free cash flow, so they weren’t operating in debt,” Carter said.

“We’ve always been taught risk over reward, so the riskier it is, the higher the reward. We knew we wanted to invest in risky companies,” Raybun added.

They discovered their risk method was worth it when it came to online retailers, like Amazon. However, with any risk, there’s also the chance of loss. The students lost 40% of their stock after Carnival Cruise failed to meet their predictions.

“I got the idea that cruises were opening, people would be booking, and that would raise the market,” Carter said. “But it obviously did not do that.”

Investor, author and finance expert Jeremiah Brown said he also became curious about investing at 16 years old. He admits to making some of the same mistakes at Carter and Raybun’s age.

Only difference, it was his own real money at risk. He invested $10,000 into LinkedIn. “I figured all professionals utilize this platform, so I thought it was a good company to invest in,” Brown said.

Two weeks later, he lost all his money. Now at 32 years old, Brown said he hasn’t lost on an investment since.

“It taught me so many different lessons about consumer behavior, investor behavior, equanimity,” he said. “You have to know exactly what you’re investing in, particularly when it comes to investing in stocks, being as though it’s so liquid and volatile.”

Research shows Millennials and Gen Z-ers tend to invest in what’s most familiar to them, like streaming services, technology devices and travel.

However, at least 50% of them regret how they invested in the last year.

From an expert’s perspective, Brown believes it’s likely due to lack of knowledge and rookie mistakes. “You want to focus on real, sound, fundamental companies and businesses,” he said.

Brown advises before investing in a stock, there are a few factors to consider:

• Relative Strength Index (RSI): If a stock is overbought or oversold
• Debt-to-Equity Ratio (D/E): Dividing the total debt balance by the total equity balance
• Balance Sheets: Make sure the company’s net worth is positive and producing a positive cashflow

Although technology has given Millennials and Gen Z-ers an advantage over preceding generations when it comes to access and democratizing the stock market, financial literacy is proving to be the key to successful investing and trading.

Which is why Brown created an app, Tickar, to improve the novice investor’s financial literacy by making it easier for them to learn about the over 7,500 publicly listed U.S. stocks.

Tickar allows users to scan any product or logo, then the app formulates underlying stocks, such as supply chain manufacturers, associated with the product or company.

“The goal of Tickar is to not only increase [the novice investor’s] investment prowess, but to allow them to identify products and companies they didn’t know existed,” he said.

Hopefully, Tickar helps young investors like Carter and Raybun, begin thinking long term.

“[When I start investing my real money] I don’t know if I would be as risky,” Raybun said. “I would invest in companies I know will have long-term growth.”

Luckily, it’s a lesson they’re learning now through financial literacy, instead of trial and error.