Financial/ Investing Gift Ideas

Is it ok to talk about investing gift ideas during the holidays? My husband and I argue about this a lot!

Black Friday Sales and Cyber Monday are right around the corner. It’s super easy to get caught in your holiday giving spirit and buy on “sale”. You might think you’re saving money, all the while you may just be exhausting your bank account. In fact, one of my friends, Jade, recently asked me this wonderful question about holiday giving: She asked:

I’m so glad that Jade brought this topic up. There’s not a better time to get into this before the whole shopping craze begins. Now if you ask my husband, he thinks holidays should only be about consuming and splurging on things that make you feel good. He thinks it’s against the holiday spirit to look at gifts as an investment. We had a very heated argument about this just the other day. Now I’m gonna show you my money gift ideas, and I’d love to hear from you guys what you think.

Do you think you should NOT think about investing during holiday shopping? Or do you think Finance-related gifts can be a great way to give, and a practical way to help your friends, kids, and family begin to build wealth?

Here are my top 6 favorite financial gifts.

“Since the holidays are coming and many of us are buying gifts, I’d love to learn more about gifts that are investment-oriented and/or financially beneficial for the recipient… Like savings bonds, 529 Plan for college, Certificates of Deposit, etc. What other ones are there? Which ones would you recommend? Thanks in advance!”

6- Treasury Bonds & Certificates of Deposit

For decades, T-bonds and CDs have been a traditional gift for newborn babies and children. That’s because they’re safe ways to preserve capital while growing your money. Because the interest tends to be low and because they usually can’t be redeemed for years or even decades, they may not be the most exciting gifts. But if you’re looking for a safe way to put money aside for a child and don’t anticipate them needing it for a long time, T-Bonds and CDs may be the way to go.

5- Stocks Investing Gift Ideas

A gift of stocks can be a great way to get a young person interested in personal finance, and you don’t even need to spend a lot. Buying them just one or two shares in a company that’s personally meaningful to them can be a wonderful way to begin a conversation around investing and how the stock market works. 

4- College Savings Plans

These include the 529 Plans and Coverdell Accounts. Both of these allow you to create a fund that lets your capital and interest be withdrawn tax-free as long as the money is used for educational purposes. These include college and graduate school fees, room and board, study abroad, and even K-12 private school tuition. The biggest difference between a 529 and a Coverdell is that 529s typically invest your money for you in funds that get more conservative as the recipient gets closer to college-age, while Coverdells allows you the freedom to invest in whatever you like, stocks, bonds, mutual funds and so forth. 

Both are great ways to help a child save for college or graduate school, and if the child is old enough, you can get them on board by showing them what you’ve invested in and explaining why.

3-  Roth IRA Investing Gift Ideas

We don’t usually think about setting up retirement plans for children but remember the miracle of compound interest. Helping a young person get a five- or ten-year head start on their retirement savings could mean many thousands more dollars in their future.

The catch is that in order to qualify for a Roth IRA, a child has to be earning money of their own, but paper routes and babysitting money count–just be sure you or your child keep careful track of how much they earned and when. You can contribute up to the amount of their earnings per year or $6000, whichever is less.

Roths allow you to invest in your choice of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. So again, this can be a great way to get older children involved by explaining how you chose your allocations. Maybe even let them pick a stock or two for the fund, and showing them how much it can grow over time. 

2- Microlending Gifts

If you’d like to get a gift that’s both an investment and a good deed, consider making a microloan in your recipient’s name. Microlending organizations such as Kiva.org allow investors to make loans that support small businesses in developing countries. They don’t pay interest. But in most cases, your recipient will get back the capital you invested, and they can decide whether to keep it or reinvest in other micro-lending projects. It’s a fabulous way to begin getting teaching the ins and outs of investing in a business, while also supporting hard work and creativity around the world.

1-  Financial Education & Investing Gift Ideas

Now, this is my absolute favorite type of giving. Instead of giving someone a fish per holiday, teach them how to fish… and that comes with education. Financial education has recently become a way for many banks and brokers like TD Ameritrade to attract new customers which is great. But one thing you want to keep in mind is that these brokers have an alternative motive, and that is keeping your money in their brokerage account.

They want you to invest in the stuff that makes sense to them. Not all financial education is created equal.

And when you’re out there looking for financial education gifts, make sure to look for stuff that is unbiased.

That’s literally why I founded Invest Diva 7 years ago after working at a brokerage firm on Wall street, learning how they make money when the traders and investors lose… That’s why a lot of their education was tinted and kinda pushed the traders to lose money.