Novel 1st Birthday Present - Help/Ideas Please !!
Discussion
Morning all...
NicoJr turns 1 next week and I was planning on buying him some physical gold (sovereigns) for his big day.
Problem is I have wrongly assumed Baird & Co would take a card payment and it's now not looking at all likely that I can get them in time.
I dont see the baby much at all, so consequently I refuse to buy him any toys or clothes that I'll never see him play with or wear. Instead I see myself as best of concentrating on safeguarding his financial future hence the idea of bullion coins or some other investment type product each year.
I have a bank account set up for him, but that's ''invisible'' so to speak, I would like him to be able to see and touch these thing I build up for him over the years and learn about why he has them.
So, he'll get the metal eventually, but just not in time for the day, I am still keen on having ''something'' for him which is a bit out of the ordinary.
I have a client in who is a hotelier and a bit of a private wine collector also, I thought of asking him for some recommendations for clarets which look like being worth holding onto, I am thinking a 2009 Chateau Lafite (his birth year obviously). Yes I know it already pricey....
So PH, what other ideas have thee for an original present which could be classed as an investment?
I am fast running out of time due to my erroneous assumptions about paying for the original idea!
Huge thanks in advance.
Nico...
NicoJr turns 1 next week and I was planning on buying him some physical gold (sovereigns) for his big day.
Problem is I have wrongly assumed Baird & Co would take a card payment and it's now not looking at all likely that I can get them in time.
I dont see the baby much at all, so consequently I refuse to buy him any toys or clothes that I'll never see him play with or wear. Instead I see myself as best of concentrating on safeguarding his financial future hence the idea of bullion coins or some other investment type product each year.
I have a bank account set up for him, but that's ''invisible'' so to speak, I would like him to be able to see and touch these thing I build up for him over the years and learn about why he has them.
So, he'll get the metal eventually, but just not in time for the day, I am still keen on having ''something'' for him which is a bit out of the ordinary.
I have a client in who is a hotelier and a bit of a private wine collector also, I thought of asking him for some recommendations for clarets which look like being worth holding onto, I am thinking a 2009 Chateau Lafite (his birth year obviously). Yes I know it already pricey....
So PH, what other ideas have thee for an original present which could be classed as an investment?
I am fast running out of time due to my erroneous assumptions about paying for the original idea!
Huge thanks in advance.
Nico...
Edited by NicoG on Friday 10th September 11:06
NicoG said:
Instead I see myself as best of concentrating on safeguarding his financial future
Pension. Falls foul of your requirement forNicoG said:
I would like him to be able to see and touch these thing I build up for him over the years
But come time to crystalise it & boy oh boy he will haveNicoG said:
learn about why he has them.
With the basic rate tax being added back in, and let's face it, by the time he's 55+ the state is hardly likely to be supplying...NicoG said:
I am still keen on having ''something'' for him which is a bit out of the ordinary.
Stamps/ coins of 2009 vintage? May appreciate in value and complement the gold and also got some sentiment..?A one year old does not want or need any kind of investment.
Buy a colourful ball, a set of bath toys, a set of duplo bricks and a little car to play in (a simple one that won't just cost a fortune and then go wrong as soon as he leaves it in the garden). Do not buy anything with batteries unless it is simple and tough. In fact don't buy any toy that isn't simple and tough.
A watch will have zero sentimental value unless he actually remembers you giving it to him and you make the event significant by showing him that dad/uncle/big brother/etc has one like it (so buy two! ). This effectively means waiting until he is 8, 9 or 10. Even then you are taking a gamble, he may well swap it for a toy car or a bag of sweets the next day.
Gold is high now, do you really want to give him an asset that may well be a lot less overvalued in years to come?
Baby bonds, see above. These mean nothing to a child.
Perhaps the best thing I've got for my kids is a big Easter egg mold. Don't be fobbed off with the four inch mold that cake shops stock, ask for the BIG one. Ours is the size of a melon or rugby ball. Use about 15-16 100g bars of chocolate and let him stir it up and hold the spoon. Make the whole thing an activity, teach him numbers by counting the bars, measure the egg, phone relatives and get him to tell them how big the egg is. Video the kid bashing the egg up with a rolling pin. He'll love it. And you can do it every year. Tip: leave the egg halves over night to set, it takes all night even if it looks completely set.
Looking around my house I have a few gifts from my early years. There is no reason other than old memories of games and family Christmas days to keep any of them. They have little financial value and probably no other value at all to anyone else. Ask yourself what you remember from your childhood, the baby bond? the investment portfolio? a fancy watch that you couldn't wear or understand? Gold coins (unless they were chocolate, they do mean something to one year olds)?
I know that some relatives did give me money in various forms when I was little. It meant nothing to me then and when I finally cashed the lot and put it in my own account it covered a set of first year texts at Uni. Did the oldies get a thankyou? No, they'd died by then. Think about this story, a gift with no joy and only a posthumous thankyou.
If you must get an investment...
Thorntons give shareholders gift vouchers IIRC. Wait till he is 6 to 9 and buy him the min ammount to qualify. Tell him that he owns part of a chocolate factory. Watch out for the vouchers arriving, just think of it, a letter, addressed to him, from a chocolate factory, with chocolate vouchers inside. If you are really lucky the letter might be delivered by a red lorry (this means something to little kids, seriously). Go and spend the vouchers. Be sure to tell him that this shop might be the bit that he owns. Draw graphs of the share price in bright colours. Get the dividends and tell him that his bit of the chocolate facotory has sent him some pocket money. Spend on chocolate, preferably in a Thortons that he thinks might be "his" part of the company. He's enjoyed this and he's learnt a bit about graphs, numbers, shares, value, counting, the economy and money.
Buy a colourful ball, a set of bath toys, a set of duplo bricks and a little car to play in (a simple one that won't just cost a fortune and then go wrong as soon as he leaves it in the garden). Do not buy anything with batteries unless it is simple and tough. In fact don't buy any toy that isn't simple and tough.
A watch will have zero sentimental value unless he actually remembers you giving it to him and you make the event significant by showing him that dad/uncle/big brother/etc has one like it (so buy two! ). This effectively means waiting until he is 8, 9 or 10. Even then you are taking a gamble, he may well swap it for a toy car or a bag of sweets the next day.
Gold is high now, do you really want to give him an asset that may well be a lot less overvalued in years to come?
Baby bonds, see above. These mean nothing to a child.
Perhaps the best thing I've got for my kids is a big Easter egg mold. Don't be fobbed off with the four inch mold that cake shops stock, ask for the BIG one. Ours is the size of a melon or rugby ball. Use about 15-16 100g bars of chocolate and let him stir it up and hold the spoon. Make the whole thing an activity, teach him numbers by counting the bars, measure the egg, phone relatives and get him to tell them how big the egg is. Video the kid bashing the egg up with a rolling pin. He'll love it. And you can do it every year. Tip: leave the egg halves over night to set, it takes all night even if it looks completely set.
Looking around my house I have a few gifts from my early years. There is no reason other than old memories of games and family Christmas days to keep any of them. They have little financial value and probably no other value at all to anyone else. Ask yourself what you remember from your childhood, the baby bond? the investment portfolio? a fancy watch that you couldn't wear or understand? Gold coins (unless they were chocolate, they do mean something to one year olds)?
I know that some relatives did give me money in various forms when I was little. It meant nothing to me then and when I finally cashed the lot and put it in my own account it covered a set of first year texts at Uni. Did the oldies get a thankyou? No, they'd died by then. Think about this story, a gift with no joy and only a posthumous thankyou.
If you must get an investment...
Thorntons give shareholders gift vouchers IIRC. Wait till he is 6 to 9 and buy him the min ammount to qualify. Tell him that he owns part of a chocolate factory. Watch out for the vouchers arriving, just think of it, a letter, addressed to him, from a chocolate factory, with chocolate vouchers inside. If you are really lucky the letter might be delivered by a red lorry (this means something to little kids, seriously). Go and spend the vouchers. Be sure to tell him that this shop might be the bit that he owns. Draw graphs of the share price in bright colours. Get the dividends and tell him that his bit of the chocolate facotory has sent him some pocket money. Spend on chocolate, preferably in a Thortons that he thinks might be "his" part of the company. He's enjoyed this and he's learnt a bit about graphs, numbers, shares, value, counting, the economy and money.
Edited by cymtriks on Sunday 12th September 01:45
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