Open a Roth IRA with a low-cost provider like Vanguard, Fidelity, etc. and put as much into it as you possibly can (yearly limit is the the lesser of your annual earned income or $6500 starting in 2023). Invest the money in a low-cost index fund (a Total Stock Market fund is perfect) and don't mess with it. Time is your best friend when it comes to retirement investing and you'll have a huge leg up by starting at 17.

Don't start gambling until you've got money you can afford to gamble.

I'm 40 years older than you. I remember when the newspaper boy would bring a big-city newspaper and it would have every stock's price listed in a big multi-page table.

The first investing I did I didn't actually do... my mother, the notary, forged my signature on a form to open me a brokerage account. Then she bought me something and gave it to me for my college graduation.

Next, it was the 401k at my first big-boy job. I put 25% into the company stock fund.

My next big investment was the wedding. Not the reception, but finding the right woman to marry.

Then a house.

Then, after our first kid was born, I was finally making enough and life was stable enough that we started investing outside the 401k...but before we started investing outside the 401k, we were maximizing our contribution into the 401k.

All this was through mutual funds. Not stock, not bonds, not pork belly futures, and not currency trading. Mutual funds that combined money of different investors to buy a few shares of this and a few shares of that and a few shares of something else.

And eventually, we did open a gambling account and bought some stock. We've bought some stinkers and some winners. We bought 10 shares of McDonalds on a whim at 23 bucks. It's now trading at 270, if I recall correctly. But we also bought some BP 3 months before the Darkwater Horizon disaster. And we've bought stock in a company that went bankrupt.

The key is diversity. Eventually every company falls on hard times, one way or another. When I was your age, the most popular entertainer was Bill Cosby. He's had a rough few years now. Imagine where I'd be had I invested in a television production company he could have owned.

Start here: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics

I would invest in YOU. Figure out how you’re going to make money and a lifestyle that can afford you to invest long term. Take a certificate class for a skill at a college on the side. May not ever use it, but it’s one more thing to fall back on.

The one thing you have going for you is time. You’ll get some great advice here and if you take it and you keep chipping away you will absolutely reap those benefits.

The best thing you can do at your age is to invest in yourself. A good education or a good trade is the way to go. Be careful of anything that promises you to make you easily rich quickly. Because if it was this easy, most of us would be rich. (Personally I don't take any advice from someone who lives a very high end lifestyle. Most of them have done some illegal stuff to get there.)

I'm 51 and the most financially comfortable people I know are the ones with a diploma in a high demanding field or have a business. They are all also very frugal with their money.

So save your money for your education and don't buy stuff to impress others (especially at credit) and you will be better off than a lot of people.

You may find these links helpful:

• "How to handle $"
• Investing

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Check out the subreddit wikki in the menu, it’s really helpful.

Something to remember: investing is a great way to store and slowly grow your money. It takes 40+ years of constant contribution and growth to get rich through investing. At your age I would focus on the best/your favorite way to be actively making money. And live beneath your means as much as you can suffice

total stock index fund or the S&P500 at 17 pick one of those two funds, put 50% of what you're willing to invest in a Roth IRA 50% in a taxable brokerage account

personally until you have a lot more money, skip the individual stocks & crypto, down the line if you have a solid financial foundation and want to throw $50-100 out of every $1,000 into a long shot for fun... not a big deal but for now keep it simple and honestly boring

Google “monkey dartboard stocks”, read a few articles, then put your money in a low cost index fund.