Monday, January 20, 2014

Reader Question

A correspondent asks,

"My father wants to buy my son something for his 1st birthday - I assume he is thinking of something that he would consider repeating (if appropriate) every year. What do you think? What would you buy a one year-old for his birthday, if your objective was to set him on the road to financial success? Maybe this would be an interesting blog post/question? Some of your readers seem to like giving free advice!"

6 comments:

Taylor Conant said...

A fruit tree. That he can learn to water and care for over time. That he can watch grow over the course of his young life and appreciate that good investments take a long time to mature, and the earlier you plant them the longer they can grow and bear you fruit.

CP said...

Very nice idea.

CP said...

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."

- (Ben Franklin?)

Sustainable Gains said...

Hmm… Our fruit tree is suffering from the extreme weather this winter. The lesson might not come out as intended!

Another approach would be to rotate each year between a silver coin or small gold coin, a 20 dollar bill, a share of stock, and a TreasuryDirect bond maturing when the child turns 18. Then you can compare them all each year and see how they're all doing. You also have the beginnings of a Permanent Portfolio asset-allocation system.

Taylor Conant said...

Eh, I think you're just proving my point even more SG, as this is the gift that keeps on giving: nothing lasts forever, there is no perfectly safe, "risk free" asset, etc.

Anonymous said...

SG, you need to move to Texas it sounds like. [Unless you are an Obama carpetbagger; then stay where you are.]