One of you asked about buying single shares of stock for kids, et al, as gifts. I said I thought it was ridiculous (and wasteful in requiring the company to start sending quarterly and annual reports which your recipient may not even want) and suggested sending a framed canceled certificate for 1000 shares, and pointed you to Scripophily.com for this.
Tom Bolger: “I disagree. When you purchase scripophily, while it looks nice, it’s of no value. It’s just an expensive piece of paper. Depending on its collectible value, almost the cost of a real share. Not all of us are wealthy enough to purchase a ‘significant’ quantity of stock for a gift. But for the cost of a single share, yes, at a premium for the service, you not only get a nice piece of paper to hang on the wall but as a shareholder, you also receive an annual report and any giveaways (AT&T gives calling cards, Wrigley gives chewing gum). The real value is starting a child interested in stocks and hopefully a lifetime of successful investing. And after several years, who knows, maybe your $100 investment in a Dell may split several times and be worth $1,000. Now that’s a gift.”
OK, on a less grumpy day, I suppose I can see this is no worse than getting the kid a Star Wars Imperial Cruiser or something. Maybe even a little better. Fine. First a share of Nike; soon an application to Wharton. Fair enough.
Tom found two sites devoted to this cause: Oneshare.com charges $35 (including shipping) plus the cost of the share itself. Add another $34 if you want it to arrive framed. A competitor: Framestock.com.
A current favorite on both sites: a $17 share of World Wrestling Federation stock. Yours, framed, for under a hundred bucks.
erika: “i just finished reading one of your intresting books and i would like to know if you can explain it to me with a little more details. please the book i read was the only investment guide you will ever need. can you please e mail me with a respond thankyou so much erika” — Apparently not the only investment guide she will ever need.
