This post is worth $5 if you read to the end!
While everyone has their gift giving traditions, what every kid needs for the holidays has little to do with their age, their likes, or what’s on their list to Santa.
Throughout my formative years, our holiday tradition was to spend time at my Grandma and Grandpa Carroll’s house in Frederika, Iowa (a small town of “204 friendly people” according to the highway sign). My grandparents were children during the Great Depression and they had profound memories of Christmases gone by where the gifts were few and far between, many handmade, but all given with the utmost of love and thoughtfulness.
The two of them had very different gifting habits which made our gift-opening ceremonies quite memorable. My grandmother believed that everyone should have the same number of gifts, and the more there were to open, the merrier the Christmas. As a means of accomplishing this, she would gather all of the gifts there were to give in a spare bedroom upstairs, usually beginning in the Spring and running all the way until December. (By casually opening all of the dressers and closets, we typically knew at least a few of the items that we were to get before the grand opening.) They weren’t particularly lavish, extravagant (or wanted) gifts — we’d typically get the freebies that she received for subscribing to various Publishers Clearing House magazines. Penlights, magnet clips, ice scrapers and cooler lunch bags were some of the things I remember.
All of us would get socks. Sometimes white tube socks, sometimes plain brown or black dress socks. But it was never so much about the gifts as it was the fun of sitting around opening the gifts knowing that the best was to come last.
My Grandpa’s style was one gift, and one size fits all.
When all the gifts had been opened, all of the thank-yous issued for the random things that may or may not make the trip home, my Grandpa then reached into his vest pocket and would pull out an envelope for everyone in the room. At this point, each of us received the coveted $100 bill that was to be used for something we really wanted.
What every kid needs for the holidays
My grandpa had it half right. The cash is nice, but what every kid needs for the holidays today is an investment in their future in the way of stocks, ETFs and mutual funds. According to Steve Rosen, in a Chicago Tribune article published in early 2017, kids who are introduced to investing early on, continue the habit throughout life.
The absolute simplest way to facilitate this is through Stockpile.com.
**As a MasteryOfMoney.com reader, you get $5 upfront to get you started!**
Though the thrill of future based investing is probably lost on the youngest of kids and grandkids, when asked what he liked about stocks as a gift idea, my 12 year old said, “Someday you could be making thousands of dollars a year by not doing anything.” (And who wouldn’t want that?!)
After scouring the internet for various stock trading platforms, nothing compares to the simplicity and convenience of Stockpile.com. Consider it’s characteristics:
You can buy fractional shares. Even smaller denominations deposited into an account allow you to buy fractional shares of companies. A $25 deposit would buy almost .25 of a share of Walt Disney Corp (DIS), $50 would buy .05 shares of Amazon (AMZN), $100 would buy a couple shares of Nike (NKE).
Low trading fees. A $0.99 trade fee is about the lowest you’ll find in the market today. Even Charles Schwab, Etrade and Scottrade are all in the $4.95-6.95 range.
Learn through mini-lessons. Download the Stockpile app and take any one of the many mini-lessons that will show you how to invest like a seasoned pro. Great for students or adults.
Link your bank account. Move money seamlessly into your or your child’s account by linking your bank account to the Stockpile account.
Open custodial accounts for kids. The kids can track their own investments using the app or the website, create a wishlist for stocks or funds, and even request trades that the parent can approve.
Reinvest dividends. Simply select dividend reinvestment as an option in the setup of your account and you’ll see your stock holdings rise steadily over time as dividends are paid out. (No commissions charged on dividend reinvestment is an added bonus!)
As a MasteryOfMoney.com reader, you get $5 upfront to get you started!
Test the system for yourself and see how easy it really is to get going. We’ve arranged a $5 first-time user bonus for anyone that sets an account up in Stockpile.com. Simply click the link below and you’ll be ushered to the setup where you’ll get an immediate $5 to invest in any stock, mutual fund or ETF available. (No $0.99 commission either!)
Use your kids’ stockpile account as a teaching tool for the power of compound interest, the love of investing, and how the stock market actually works. And who knows, in the next 20 or 30 years, perhaps it will be your kids giving some seriously awesome gifts to you!
