Stock Investor Gifts

April 22, 2008 7:31 AM

Gifts for a stock picker: I'm looking for a thoughtful gift for my secretary. She loves to play the market, so I thought that I could buy her a Vanguard gift certificate or something and let her speculate with the money, but that doesn't seem to be possible. Any suggestions? I'd like to spend around $100. Thanks!
posted by gd779 to work & money (12 comments total)

The bad thing about only having $100 on the market is that most investment accounts have a minimum initial investment higher than that, and most stock trades cost at least $5. So even if you open an account for $100, you're probably going to have to spend $5 to buy a few shares and $5 to sell it, so that you get an automatic 10% loss.

What about books about investing? There's tons of them. I can't really give any specific suggestions without knowing more about her investment style.
posted by burnmp3s at 7:40 AM on April 22

How about a session with a financial adviser? Do you have someone who is in charge of your retirement fund? Perhaps she or he would come down and help you set up an account for your secretary, with a starting deposit of $100 dollars or so from you.
posted by Sara Anne at 7:46 AM on April 22

How about a framed stock certificate of a stock that is important to her (her first investment, a big gainer, etc)
posted by Rock Steady at 7:47 AM on April 22

Yeah, I don't know that most regular brokerages will have gift cards. Have you tried Sharebuilder? They seem to cater to smaller investors (or at least that's what their ads seem to suggest) and might have what you're looking for.
posted by boomchicka at 7:48 AM on April 22

How about a subscription: WSJ, Business Week, Barrons, the Economist?
posted by Jahaza at 7:57 AM on April 22

If she is not a Morningstar subscriber, maybe buy her a year there? That is around $150, but well worth it.
posted by iknowizbirfmark at 8:02 AM on April 22 [1 favorite]

The Ambient Devices Market Maven is kind of cool... though it's likely she already has many ways of keeping tabs on the market, this is wireless and could stick on her fridge or go anywhere.
posted by joshrholloway at 8:05 AM on April 22

How about a stock market game? Capitalism II is a lot of fun (and cheap), but there are others that she'd find fun. Would it look bad if you spent less than $100?

If so, toss it in as a freebie with whatever you get her.
posted by mamessner at 8:39 AM on April 22

Some people still know how to read. Books I've enjoyed include Peter Lynch's One Up on Wall Street and Beating the Street, and Jim Cramer's Real Money. If she really likes to read, get her a copy of Ben Graham's Intelligent Investor or Security Analysis.
posted by ikkyu2 at 8:43 AM on April 22

If she's already playing the market, find out who her broker is and ask them how you can deposit the money into her account. Then make a nice card to tell her what you've done.
posted by goo at 9:11 AM on April 22

A one year membership to the American Association of Individual Investors will give her access to both the site and the publication which supply hype free articles about various styles of investing, risk management, tax planning, mutual funds, momentum vs growth vs value investing, etc. Additionally, each month it posts the results of it's many different stock screens based on the styles of investment gurus (along with charts of the screens' actual long term performance--a rare thing in the lucrative and ethically conflicted business of investment advice), from which she can find many good quality stocks to invest in. At US $29/yr it's a bargain for the beginning or intermediate investor wanting to continue their education.

If she's a hardcore trader always on the prowl for a technical or academic edge to investing, she might want to visit the blog at CXO Advisors which posts summaries of recent and classic academic articles about which trading tricks and styles test out successfully or not. The given wisdom frequently turns out not to be so wise. The site is free.
posted by bbranden1 at 10:23 AM on April 22

Buy her a year's subscription to one of the Motley Fool's premium services. Here's a comparison of prices and what's offered with each one. While most are in the $200 range, Amanda Kish's Champion Funds, a mutual fund–picking service, is $149.

Personally, I'd absolutely love to get any one of these subscriptions as a gift.
posted by limeonaire at 3:00 PM on April 22