Your Money: Ways to wrap a little savings into your gifts for children and adults.Sure, you could opt to be the "popular" aunt this holiday season and wrap a $45 Floyd Mayweather Jr. snapback hat embroidered with 3D stitching of the letters TMT for "The Money Team."
Or you could dare to help a kid save for college.
This holiday season, it's clear that shopping for deep discounts alone won't rescue us from our financial woes. So it might be fun to figure out a way to wrap a little savings into our gifts for kids and adults, as well. Some show-me-the-money gifts:
• Stock as a stocking stuffer?
Once you see the towers of toy boxes on Christmas Day, you're bound to ask yourself, "Hey, isn't there a way to make money on all this craziness?"
Ask Jim Cramer, host of "Mad Money" on CNBC for his stock pick for kids this year and he says it's actually a perennial favorite, Disney. Shares of Disney are tradiing near $70, near a 52-week high.
"In 2015, we have Star Wars," Cramer said. "I think it is going to be huge so you buy Disney every time it comes down."
Obviously, it's tough to pick the next movie blockbuster. But the Disney Star Wars machine also involves a video gaming deal in 2015 and beyond, as well.
Robert Bilkie, president of Sigma Investment Counselors in Southfield, said it's not a bad idea if someone buys a share or two of a child's favorite company, maybe Apple, Disney or Mattel.
But Bilkie warns there is always a risk that any single stock can go down significantly after it was bought.
• Give the gift of Wall Street excess on the big screen.
Martin Scorsese's The Wolf on Wall Street on crooked traders and scam artists is set to open on Christmas Day. So why not a gift card to a movie complex? OK, this tip may not be the best idea for someone who lost 401(k) savings through a Ponzi scheme or someone who won't go to R-rated movies with violence and graphic nudity or someone who cannot sit through three-hour-long movies.
• What about a book on money?
David Sowerby, a Bloomfield Hills-based portfolio manager for Loomis Sayles, recommends giving friends and family a copy of The Ultimate Gift, a novel by Jim Stovall. The book's cover asks: "What would you be willing to do in order to inherit $1 billion?" The story also explores what you would be able to learn along the way. List price: $14.99 but available for less than that.
• Tuck cash in a fun spot.
My Dad used to unwrap a box of candy, tuck in a Benjamin or two inside and then re-wrap the box to give to my mother. Yes, you could do the same with a cool coin purse or wristlet wallet.
Or wrap cash around a package of flower seeds for some "seed money?" Yes, you could pay $16 or more for such gimmick seed-money packaging. But why not copy clever and save some cash?
• Cash for college?
Covering the cost of college may not be easy but there are plenty of ways to set aside money for young people. And most parents will be thrilled with this gift.
"It's a valuable gift when you're giving someone savings for college," said Joseph Hurley, founder of SavingforCollege.com, a website that details college savings plans and prepaid tuition plans.
Some websites can help you research options and rules, including www.savingcashforcollege.com. Morningstar has an interactive 529 plan center.
For a more-than-generous option, some parents or grandparents might want to consider prepaid tuition plans.
In Michigan, for example, the cost of a lump-sum full benefits contract to cover one year is $16,874 or $8,437 for one semester. There are some payment plans and other options. The Michigan Education Trust lets you prepay undergraduate college tuition at any Michigan public university or college for a child residing in Michigan. MET is portable to out-of-state colleges but the benefits are greater if the child goes to a Michigan public school. MET contributions are tax-deductible on the Michigan income tax form and tax-exempt when used for qualified expenses at a qualified higher education institution. See www.setwithmet.com.
For a gift-giving-on-a-budget option, look into a college savings plan. One option for Michigan families is the Michigan Education Savings Program. See www.misaves.com. The Web site offers some tips on how to contribute online to a plan as a gift via an "e-Gifting" option, so parents who have set up an MESP plan can show other relatives how to contribute, too. The minimum amount friends and family may contribute to an existing account is $25.
But friends and family members can open a new MESP account, too, if that's what is wanted or needed. New accounts can be opened for $25.
With the MESP, the total amount saved each year is eligible for a Michigan income tax deduction but certain limitations apply. And earnings are tax exempt if used for qualified expenses at a qualified higher education institution. Money saved in the MESP college savings plan can be used for qualified expenses at any qualified higher education institution in the U.S. or abroad.
Want some bling with that gift? Throw in a sweatshirt or hat from a favorite college — or maybe even some tickets to a college basketball or hockey game — along with that college savings plan gift.
