Posted by Lending Club :: November 26, 2008 @ 6:42 am

There are many occasions for giving gifts, especially to children. And one of the biggest occasions is coming up: Christmas. You might give clothes that the children can wear or some toys that will keep their attention, or you can gift them some shares of stock.

Buying them shares of stock might set a different course for their financial lives and get them interested in investing and personal finance at a young age. If presented as a fun game, kids will usually enjoy the experience and will want to learn more. You can even download software for them to track their stocks or you can use a simple spreadsheet.

There are different ways to accomplish this. If you already use a brokerage house, there might be offerings available to help you, so check that out first. You can also use a service like OneShare to buy one share and have a certificate framed and sent to you. OneShare might not be the best option if you plan on adding more shares. The last option is to open a guardian account with a low-cost broker. This would also allow the children to log in and track their investments in all kinds of graphs and get them accustomed to online investing.

Once they have their shares, you can also introduce the children to fantasy stock markets where they have an imaginary amount of money to trade and compete with other children. There are many benefits to having children learn stock investing. A good place to begin might be Young Money, where they can start with an imaginary $10,000 in fantasy money.

If you wish to give something more hands-on, consider Cash Flow for Kids, or the regular Cash Flow game if the children are older. Cash Flow makes it real and offers a fun way to learn the basics of personal finance.

Whichever gift you decide to give, make sure it’ll be something more than just a temporary moment of excitement and continue to pay dividends for a long time.