So how was Father’s Day? Got anything for your dad or husband this year? In my case, it’s a simple phone call and greeting (my dad lives abroad), while in our household, my spouse and I don’t really fall for the pressures of gift giving that much. Nice little trinkets from our kids always serve as our tokens of appreciation for each other during occasions like Mother’s or Father’s Day. Christmas, birthdays and anniversaries are hard enough for us to figure out: we negotiate for the most low cost and high value things we can happily exchange with each other, without having to upset the budget. Maybe we’re overdue for a nice night out for a change?
Fun Gift Ideas For The Finance Enthusiast
But for fantasy’s sake, I checked out what currently serve as unique gift ideas, especially for the financially inclined (by no means is this list an endorsement — am doing it just for fun). As a follow up to my post describing some cool gifts for the real estate lover, I thought I’d pick up on this list by Smart Money which caught my fancy: too late to buy Dad anything this year, but I quite appreciated the financial theme of this list. What kind of gifts would you give someone who’s financially sophisticated?
Ambient Orb: Image by Codehaus
1. StockCast Wireless Stock Market Tracker by Brookstone (Price: $49.99)
I can see this being a useful gift — if you don’t own a computer. It’s a wireless desktop gadget that tracks the market and projects updates onto a screen. If you’re willing to part with another $6.95 a month or $19.95 a quarter, you can create and watch your own stock portfolio. Oh wait! Must be that the scores of stock charting tools, trackers, screeners, checkers, calculators and other FREE online tools offered by online stock brokers and investment sites today just aren’t up to par? 😉
2. A Session With A Financial Advisor (Price: $150 to $400 per hour)
For local fee only financial planners, you can check out the National Association of Personal Finance Advisors or NAPFA.org, as well as the Garrett Planning Network. You can find advisors based on the zip code you provide.
3. The Amazon Kindle DX (Price: $489) with Wall Street Journal Subscription ($14.99 a month)
Is the Kindle something your (old) man would appreciate? An older version costs $359 if you’re looking for something less pricey. Do you really need one?
4. Ambient Orb by Ambient Devices (Price: $99.99)
How about a stock market mood ring? It’s a spherical glass lamp that shifts hues to reflect the way the stock market is behaving in real time. Just like with the Brookstone Stock Market Tracker, you can set up and follow a custom portfolio using the orb for $6.95 a month. Watch it glow green when the market’s up, red when the market’s down, and yellow when things are flat. It also tracks other “channels” such as weather, pollen forecasts or traffic.
5. Financial Books and Movies (Price: Varied)
If you’re looking for an affordable gift idea, how about a DVD, magazine subscription or book? Sure you can pick up a finance-oriented book or movie, but then again, you can always go to the library for the free stuff.
6. HP 12C Financial Calculator by Hewlett-Packard (Price: $79.99)
This is for the high-tech Dad who loves numbers and gadgets. This thing has 130 built-in functions that help you with figuring out stuff like your loan amortization, yield calculations, time value of money and payoff schedules. It should be a hit with financial geeks if they don’t have it already.
7. Personal Finance and Investing Software for the iPhone or Blackberry (Price: $4.99 to $12.95)
The thing about getting yourself an iPhone is that you won’t be able to help filling it up with fun applications to play with while you’re on the run. There’s a good number of financial apps for your mobile device, among them are iXpenseIt, WalletWhiz, Gas Cubby and Mobile Checkbook. For more applications, here’s a big list.
Nice gift ideas for sure, although some of them aren’t too practical (alternatives exist that are much cheaper). I’ll settle for a nice family cookout for all the dads in my family!
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In addition, the HP12C is one of only two calculators allowed for those finance professionals taking the CFA tests offered by AIMR.
The Kindle sounds cool … but then I realize how many paper books I could purchase for the cost of th Kindle – especially if I buy pre-read books. I love the actual technical concept, though.
I came across a really clever app for the iPhone. it was called iDateme. It came with a really hot picture of a couple. It was not a dating app, but a homing app!
The idea was that if someone steals your iPhone and looks at that icon, they will be tempted to click it. When they click it, their co-ordinates will be sent to your email and you can track them down.
Manshu,
That’s funny! I don’t know if that’s clever or what. Is the icon customizable so you can use a different name for it and a different image so that you can entice someone to unsuspectingly click it? If you keep the name as iDateMe with the same image, people will be aware of what this does, so you’d need a customization feature.
fathers day has come and gone, but your gift ideas will stay with me for3ver!
Thanks for the great ideas, these can be not only used for father’s day but its going to come in very handy for other special occasions.
What about a DVD of Risky Business or maybe some of the books that dish out the dirt on Wall street.