Giving stocks as gifts?

[ichangedmyname]

I had this wild idea of buying stocks as gifts for my brothers. But how would I know which is which? Just divide it evenly? I was gonna do the same for my parents and husband. Like start with $50 each adn maybe add $10 each month and once it's enough buy stocks with it like VTSMX of VFINX and let it grow.

Good idea? Bad idea? Thoughts? I think it's better than just giving them cash or buying them more crap.

[jp]

I like the idea.  I like to personalize the gift by giving shares in a specific company that I know my giftee is interested in.  It may not be optimal or even (one brother gets Apple while the other gets Marvel) but for people that aren't interested in finance, it gives them a way to connect to the idea.  Just my suggestion, if you are going to give stocks as a gift, you might consider just this once, giving an individual company stock.  If they like to shop at the mall, get them some stock in their favorite retail store.  If they like computers, get them some computer stock.  If they are already interested in personal finance, and they own mutual funds or ETFs then I am sure your gift will be appreciated for what it is.

[ichangedmyname]

That's a very cool idea! my brother likes Nike. How would I go about buying company stocks?

[Elaine]

Haha, three times I read this as "Giving socks as gifts?"

[rockstache]

How can you give someone an index fund?

ETA: What are the legal/tax ramifications, and is there a minimum amount? Logistically, how does one begin with something like this?

[jp]

That's a very cool idea! my brother likes Nike. How would I go about buying company stocks?

I have never bought a stock from a company, but I have purchased many individual stocks through a brokerage account.  If you want a piece of paper to go with the stock, you would probably need to contact the investor relations of the company :  http://investors.nikeinc.com/Investors/OVERVIEW/default.aspx

Otherwise, open a brokerage at etrade or something and start buying.  It is as easy as shopping on Amazon. 

[jp]

Meh. I'd give an index fund as a gift. Stocks are "cute" (certificate et al) but not the smartest investment, ya' know?

Well any individual stock may or may not be better than the index that contains it.  I understand your point, but for a small gift, to someone not interested in the market, familiarity is more important IMO than optimization.  The difference for a small amount of money is marginal, it is more about getting the conversation going when I have done it.  Later, the plan is to tell them to but index funds.   

[beltim]

I've done this before in two different ways.  For getting a new investor started with investing and with a small amount, you can give a gift certificate for ShareBuilder, which the recipient can use to set up an account. 

For giving the gift of an individual stock, I've used ComputerShare.  I basically filled out as much of a "new account" application as I could, enclosed a check made out to ComputerShare, and included an annual report of the company they were investing in.  You can request a printed copy of an annual report on the Investor Relations part of almost every publicly traded company's web site. 

The major problem I've had is that to sign up an account for someone, you need their SSN.  So the above are the two ways I've made it so that people have to do a trivial amount of work to sign up (i.e., write their SSN and sign their name).

[rockstache]

Thanks Beltim, that's exactly what I was wondering about. Have you ever done this for a minor (not your own child)?

[Adventine]

Hey, cool idea. Now I'm inspired to do something similar for my family over the holidays.

However, I think you need to research the legal implications of buying American stocks or index funds for Filipino nationals who are living in the Philippines. From what I understand it's only you and not your intended recipients who lives in the US.

[beltim]

I haven't done this for a minor, but as I minor I had investment accounts.  You just have to fill out the form for a different type of account - a "Uniform Transfers to Minor Act" or UTMA account.

[Panda Bunny Bird]

Just created an account to respond to this - there's a web site I came across called oneshare.com that sells stocks in popular brands as fancy gift certificates. It looks like they do charge (a whopping $39) for the certificate (on top of the share price), but it still might make a nice educational gift for a younger bro, if not a strictly mustachian one. : )

[ichangedmyname]

Hey, cool idea. Now I'm inspired to do something similar for my family over the holidays.

However, I think you need to research the legal implications of buying American stocks or index funds for Filipino nationals who are living in the Philippines. From what I understand it's only you and not your intended recipients who lives in the US.

I was thinking of just buying it and and keeping it and cash it out when they want the money LOL I don't know how to determine that though. Like maybe keep track of how many shares each of them has and gains and losses? I'll think about it still and figure out a way to do it.

[nikki]

Haha, three times I read this as "Giving socks as gifts?"

Me too. I mean... *I* like to receive fuzzy socks for Christmas ^___^

Ahem... stocks. Right.

[Elaine]

Haha, three times I read this as "Giving socks as gifts?"

Me too. I mean... *I* like to receive fuzzy socks for Christmas ^___^

Ahem... stocks. Right.

Nice, always glad to have company in the sillypants club.