Great Financial Gifts.
It is always tough around the holidays to find gifts for your family that are reasonably priced, innovative, thoughtful and useful. For many parents and grandparents, it's hard to know the best way to help raise the money consciousness of your children. Here are a few great gifts for those new to managing money and organizing financial records. The first four suggestions are aimed at young adults. Of course, you can always buy them for yourself. The last is specifically for young children. It is never too early or late to learn how to manage your money. Happy holidays!
If you want to help a friend, relative or spouse increase their financial knowledge, then membership in American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) may be the perfect present. The AAII is a nonprofit organization that provides its subscribers with basic information about investing, financial planning and retirement. It is a totally independent organization and doesn’t accept any advertising. Membership includes a subscription to its magazine, website access, tax guide, mutual fund guide, S&P Stock Reports and membership in its local chapter. Its articles are in-depth and written by informed independent experts. This is also the perfect gift for the financial neophyte or the college senior. Basic Membership is only $29 a year. Their website is www.aaii.org.
Organizing financial paperwork can be a nightmare. That is why “The Financial Planning Organizer Kit” is a great present. I wish someone had given this to me when I was starting out. The kit includes 22 file divider cards, a quick finder index and a 48 page handbook. The handbook helps you organize your vital personal information about bank accounts, health care providers, emergency contacts, credit cards and more. The divider cards help you establish a hanging folder system for your major documents in an organized fashion. Each major filing category such as Bank Accounts, Investments, Insurance: Autos, Boats & RVs, has a divider card that details what sort of papers should go in that file and how long to keep the papers. The quick finder index helps you find where you’ve filed your records. The organizer with a portable filing box and hanging folders would be the perfect present for someone just starting out or who can’t decide where things should go. The Kit is only $24.95 and is available by calling 800-695-3453 or online at www.homefile.com.
Why kids are rarely taught to manage their money has always been a mystery to me. Here’s a book that fills that void and should be given to every graduating high school or college senior. “The Budget Kit: The Common Cents Money Management Workbook” by Judy Lawrence, (Kaplan Business; 3rd Edition) will help anyone learn how to monitor their money. It is a simple, no nonsense guide to tracking your cash with straightforward and easy to use worksheets. The book helps with the day-to-day dirty job of cash management. There is nothing more empowering than taking control of your money, and this kit helps anyone develop a system to do just that. The list price is only $18.95 and can be found at most online stores at a discount.
If you know someone that has never followed business news and doesn’t know where to start, here is a great present. “Keys to Understanding the Financial News”, by Nicholas G. Apostolou and D. Lawrence Crumbley, (Barron's Educational Series; 3rd edition), is not a text book but a concise and easy to read guide that explains the implications of financial news from simple economic data to stock mergers. This book will help the reader tackle any business publication such as the Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily or Barron’s. It is only $7.95 and would make a great stocking stuffer. This publication can be purchased online and at some bookstores.
Here is a simple money management experience that teaches children as young as four years old about budgeting, planning and spending. As every parent knows, it is easy to give a child an allowance but it's not always easy to keep track of where the money goes. “The KidsWealth Money Kit” is almost like a game for children but in practice is a personalized system that lets kids manage their money with your help. The kit enables children to set goals and develop a plan to achieve them. It also emphasizes helping others and giving. Money will no longer be just something to ask for and spend but a resource to manage wisely. The kit contains colorful checkbooks, a parent’s guide, a colorful calendar with stickers, a guide for each account with sample tracking pages, a KidsWealth calculator, colored pencils and KidsWealth character stickers. Also available are additional KidsWealth workbooks that are age-specific. What better gift can you give your kids than how to manage money? “The KidsWealth Money Kit” is available at www.kidswealth.com or toll-free at (866) 954-KIDS(5437) for $39.95. The “KidsWealth Trackers” are $7.95 each.
Happy Holidays,
Libby Mihalka
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