How would you encourage a 13 year old to pursue a career in finance?

Normally I'd say get into a top undergrad school, but it sounds like you're not even in high school. I'd say just read. Read the WSJ, Dealbook, Seeking Alpha, Bloomberg, etc.

You might realize finance isn't all its cracked up to be and its not for you, or you might realize you love it. Either way, too early to get any relevant experience now since nobody will hire you unless you have family / family friends that will show you the ropes.

Check back when you're in HS man.

See if your local community college offers an accounting class with open enrollment. Accounting can be a great way to begin to understand how businesses operate.

I wouldn't.

If they're pretty advanced, give them a book like Liar's Poker or have them watch some programs on Bloomberg (the tech/Silicon Valley ones are really cool, and they sometimes do specials on businesses like Chipotle, which could interest a kid). I'm reluctant to suggest Damn It Feels Good to Be a Banker, which has very accessible language, but it's not something I'd give my kid, mainly due to the crudeness.

Let them read some articles in WSJ or a similar publication and discuss them with your kid afterwards. There are a lot of things you can do, but don't ram it down their throat if they seem disinterested.

Christian Grey

Don't say by watching the Wolf of Wall Street.

Put $5,000 (or whatever amount you're comfortable with) into a brokerage account and tell him/her that 50% of the profit is theirs.

Look out for banks that have early insight programs for high school students

These are all good suggestions... well at least most are. He might be a little to old but if he happens to collect baseball cards I would introduce him to the market via that.... I think Topps even has a site for electronic cards that are set up to perform like stocks... pretty cool concept for kids... at 13 he may be passed that stage already but if not it's a good way to push a kid towards investing without exposing him to the ills of the wall street lifestyle (don't let him read Liar's Poker until he's crushing Natty's in high school!).

Personally, I got interested in finance when I was 14 and caddied for Bill Bain. I rushed home that day, and went to the Bain Capital site to read about the firm. I ask/asked a considerable amount of stupid questions, and I'm glad I've found WSO to learn more. Reading what Marcus, IP, Northsider, Blackhat, Heister, TNA, APAE, Monty, SirTradesaLot, CompBanker and others post has broadened my horizons immeasurably. I've realized that the finance industry, in the mind of a teen, is vastly different than what actually happens in finance. When you're younger, and, of course, more naive, everything appears like it is so simple and straightforward. I'm still naive, but I've realized that everything that goes on in the finance industry is considerably more challenging and arduous than kids make it out to be. To me, I still have a hard time grasping how huge the AUM of some funds is, how fast HFT computers are, and how a .1 difference in your GPA can secure, or lose, a FT offer for a recent grad at a top school.

If you want to expose your son to finance, show him books, email him articles, and prompt him to ask questions. I like The Economist and Dealbook, but his taste in financial media will vary. Have him follow trading competitions, such as going through Bondarb's Macro Challenge to read the reasoning behind some very well thought out and esoteric trades. Have him read Aswath Damodaran's blog, or Felix Salmon's opinion pieces. I hope this helps.

Everything I learned about business at that age came from obsessively playing Star Wars Galaxies as a trader with my own businesses and had to compete with other businesses, but they shut the game down in favor of a simpler type of gameplay.

it's not about how would you, it's about why would you?

OP can stop being a troll. go back to learning how to do a proper DCF (no cheatsheets plz). and stop being douchey dispensing your wrong advice on other threads that you get from even more wrong ppl. the blind and dumb leading the blind and naiive isn't helping as it is. then again, if you're bored i totally understand...i would've gone batsh*t crazy if i was a mgmt kid