Investing $500 for a child

Awesome silver hunting idea!!!!!!!!

Halves, nickles, and quarters aren't as easy as dimes. If you get the clear wrapped rolls you can just look through the roll and see if there is a silver one (they won't have the copper band in the middle).

Good word of advice, NEVER TAKE YOUR COINS TO THE SAME PLACE YOU PICK THEM UP! You'll always look through the same rolls . We have a dump bank (which is our current bank). You don't usually have to have a bank account to ask for coins but if you're dumping them you do. Never take them to a coin star because you'll lose money. Also make sure you ask your dump bank for coin rolls (paper) so you'll never have to buy them. They should be more than happy to give you a box of 1000 (I know our bank is at least).

well OP is worried the paper wont be worth a hoot at some point, a gun well
somewhat a consumable is also a durable. not only will it retain value,if cared for it can appreciate. I use the term "monetary value" loosely because if the paper traded for it becomes worthless its still worth something. what that may be is up to the owner and circumstance. but perhaps a cow or gold,silver,other goods or tools. besides the MV it has other value in the form of security and defense as well as self reliance. in the world of wall street that may not mean much but in my world its better then golden.

not many things in this world are becoming any less expensive more so the opposite. again in the future you may not be able to easily obtain such a tool. then what would the value be?

as far as selling or trading its no big thing as long as you get what you want for it. now if it was grand dads gun or dads, something with sentimental ties well that would be a bit different.I lost toys and had them stolen both of which are a lot worse then striking a fair deal or even geting the better or short end of one.

I myself consider it a sound investment on many fronts. as long as you care for it and don't buy junk.

OK, my impression was more that the idea was one of buy and hold and use, not being willing to sell at a later date. I may have been misreading.

Actually I was looking to buy, hold and sell.

But with a gun at least you do have the option to buy, hold and USE if needed.

Great ideas everyone! I have had a good time reading through this to learn new ways to invest even for myself!

I started my kids coin collecting and they go in spurts, but they see dad perusing the coins, and they get a history lesson from the dates as we purchase a coin here or there to fill a "hole" in a set or start a new set. I gave my oldest his choice of coins to collect and he chose Franklin half dollars, and he I believe is wise for one can get VERY nice coins at reasonable prices, and in a few years those nice coins will be worth more to collectors as they get harder to come by..... My DD who is now 8.5 chose buffalo nickles and my youngest 2 years back at age 4 was on my lap while i was looking at something on Ebay® and he seen 4 Eisenhower dollars and asked "dad, will you buy those for me cause i am 4?" and his collection started, though without much history lessons. All three kids have some nice higher dollar coins too, and we take them out and look at them and admire the artwork of the designer, and talk about history of what went on in different years..... never let a lesson go by when it presents itself! My advice if you start coin collecting for holding value, purchase graded coins [in PCGS, NGC, ANACS, or ICG holders] in the highest grade possible for the money you have to spend, if you are going to do it as a learning experience, then getting a coin book, and starting a higher end type set would allow the owner of the coins to choose what they would like to go further with in years to come. Average grade type sets can start around $100,00-120.00 there are of course lots of variants in the coin collecting world.

I have thought about opening an online stock account for my kids but that requires a $500.00 account opening in itself, and though most stocks gain better than the savings accounts they have, unless a person stays on top of the market daily they can loose value way to fast these days..... even with "plan B" retirement stocks which of course are those stocks that pay out dividends every few months. Needless to say i am not a day trader even though i know quite a bit about the market and one friend trades daily and wants me to get into it so we can talk more of the same things, i am still hesitant about gambling...... even if i just traded dividend stocks like ive thought about for the kids for the savings account..... just not my first choice because of how i grew up thinking about the stock market and such. others have different opinions of course.

I agree that firearms can be a decent way to invest, but not everyone is conducive to having kids own firearms these days, and a person has to know whose gonna call the child protection services on them for allowing the kids to be around firearms supervised or not..... you cold get both a nice air rifle-pellet gun and a nice 22 rimfire and still have a few dollars left over [ok not top of the line on either but still very nice! and of course the selling of such will not always bring you what you need to have to buy that animal in the future either.

A good tool box with both a few hand tools for mechanics and basic wood working tools along with a few books on wood working for kids may also be a really good idea depending on how destructive/constructive you allow your child to be with them and how much you or anyone can help him/her learn to use those tools [others may be reading with both genders and wanting an idea too] and if talented enough in woodworking even a teenager can build things that folks just want to purchase and the dividends earned from that can be huge enough to buy a few head of cattle each year!

Kids change what they like and dislike way to often, and what you purchase for holding investment may not hold the childs interest in a few years anyway and as long as your feelings are not hurt because thats what you expected, the child may want to sell or trade for something else..... at which point silver and gold are decent but you pay a premium and lose a little when you peddle them, as the the person you trade them to wants to make a profit as well or at least retain value when trading it to some one else..... vicious world we trade in these days. I personally believe after talking the past couple years that silver is stil going to go higher, as an industrial metal it gets used and the largest mine in the several states is winding down, while the new mines around are not producing the demand just yet..... ive been waiting for the small bubble to pop, drop to below $20.00 again and then watch the rise as the big boyz take their profits and buy the small contracts out...... silver will double while gold will not in the same time frame in the near future..... it is still a long term investment and not a short term "play" for the smart folks.

And finally there is the option of "buying stock" from a farmer, who retains that hiefer or heifers [buy 2 if they are inexpensive enough] and you have ownership in the prodigy along with said farmer/rancher and they have the cash to work with til the youngun is old enough to take care of the animals on his place..... it takes a couple of special people and a contract so that all parties know who gets what and and what time...... but it is something to look into [not everyone is going to want to do this without some serious thinking though].


Just a few thoughts cause i had the time to sit and think about it, and have been at that point as well the past few years, but we live in town, and the town has an ordinance against even having a few chickens.... but we are working to change that too.

William
North Central Idaho <----- near the cultural hub of the universe

__________________
Upon the plains of hesitation bleach the bones of countless millions, who when on the dawn of victory paused to rest, and there resting died.
- John Dretschmer

dump in into a multi year CD and leave it there.

__________________
Gary in Central Ohio

Gary , I have to strongly disagree with that idea. The US FRN is badly debased, & losing its worth daily.

I would recommend a roll of Silver dimes, and tehn go to coinflation every day & see what is happening to the price of silver

__________________
We will meet in the golden city, called the New Jerusalem,
All our pain and all our tears will be no more.....

i have to say that while that's what we have aways done in the past and gotten decent returns , with the current 0% intrest avalable from th fed to the banks these cd's are now less that rate of loss do to inflation.

we did however buy 3 shares of stock on our foods co-op that was expanding to another location as long as they stay in buisiness we see a 7 % anual rate of return in one lump sum at the end of 3 years plus the principel returned it figured to around 80 dollars return on 200 after 3 year , and it was te best thing going at the time far better than the cd's that were paying 1.5 to 2 percent

but we only did that with part of thier money

Sure lots of ideas maybe some good, maybe some bad, guess it's a personal choice.
I'll tell you what I did for my DD eons ago I started a DRIP (dividend reinvestment plan) in McDonald's stock.
When my Grandkids were born I started a DRIP for both of them in ExxonMobil stock.
Now I have 2 Greatgrandkids and I've started DRIPs for both of them again in ExxonMobil stock. Since they are both only months old I can only guess what 17 plus years of growing will amount to.

All accounts were opened via the transfer agent (Computershare); forms are printable from their website.
There are "no" brokage fees, least not for ExxonMobil, so the full amount is used to buy stock.
You could start the DRIP for as little as $250. (again using ExxonMobil)
All dividends are re-invested so every 3 months they will own just a little more stock; which in turn will increase the dividend so in 3 months the dividend will be just a little larger, etc, etc.....
All accounts were/are also set up as custodial accounts - meaning that once they reach 18 the account is theirs to do as they please - to date none of the accounts I've started have been cashed in.
Guess I've made Capitalists out of them without really trying........

If you look around you can get 2.4% on a 5 year and around 2% on a 3 year, Not a lot but worthwhile for such a small investment.

__________________
Gary in Central Ohio

My vote would be to buy him some silver. Some think it's in a bubble and will soon go back down, but to get an idea of what will likely happen, look up the prices of it when YOU were a child. I wish someone would have bought me $500 worth when I was a child (when it was around .75 ounce!) IF I had bought at that price, I'd probably be selling now and moving the investment into durable goods.

__________________
.
.

I'd say land too... doubt if you could find a tract for 500, but you might find a small tract, and deed a proportional interest. Or do like Kathleen mentioned, use it as a downpayment, and pay out the rest by the year till its paid off.

__________________
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

Here in PA I can't ever imagine finding land for even a down payment of $500. Where is such a thing possible? Curious...

I REALLY like this idea. The point is not that the $500 will turn into millions for the child. But you want to teach them about money management. I would track the value of each item quarterly for him in a spreadsheet until he's old enough to do it himself....when he gets older he will see how the value has grown and fallen...that will teach him about the highs and lows that inevitably come with investing. The "rare coin" could be silver or something (I lean more to the bubble thought on precious metals at these prices but again...diversification is the key). Let's face it- it the child is 7 now and you earned 10% a year for the next 14 years the money would turn into $2,000. Not that $2,000 is something to ignore but its not like he won't have to work. But I guarantee you if you do this and when he is old enough have HIM track the values and update the spreadsheet and talk about what he is seeing he will gain a HECK of a lot more than $2,000 in real learning.