Young Ones, Go Forth and Speculate

What's right, and where do I get off even having an opinion here let alone expressing it?

I've never made any money in the market. I haven't even been allowed to own stocks for the last two years because I've been writing for "Mad Money" with Jim Cramer on CNBC, and now I'm doubly locked out of the market because TheStreet.com forbids its editorial staff from owning stocks, excluding shares of the Mother Ship. (You would think that as Jim's nephew I could've gotten in on the IPO way back when, but my dad works at a hedge fund so we were all excluded as friends and family.)

Before I started working at "Mad Money" two years ago, I didn't know jack. I'm no expert now, but you don't spend two years working for a guy like Cramer without learning a ridiculous amount about investing and developing some strong opinions.

Being an investor in your 20s is totally optional, but if it's something you want to do, as opposed to something you believe you ought to do, then take my advice. Unless you actually have a pretty large amount of money that you're interested in preserving, you should take on as much risk as possible. Buy small-cap stocks that trade under $10, have little analyst coverage and a reason to go higher. In a word: Speculate.