Fun Gift Ideas For The Finance Enthusiast

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

Ambient Orb: Image by Codehaus

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?

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? Check out this Amazon Kindle review for some pros and cons.

4. Ambient Orb by Ambient Devices (Price: $99.99)
This stock market mood ring is 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!

Personal Financial Articles

I was happy for the opportunity to have been mentioned in a few online (and print) articles lately. I was interviewed by Mary Duan for an article about BlogHer, one of the women-oriented blogging communities I’m a member of. I was also mentioned in a few articles by Kimberly Palmer, who writes for Alpha Consumer (US News). Many thanks as well to The Consumerist, Wise Bread, Wallet Pop, Loose Change (Wall Street Journal) and FiLife for featuring The Digerati Life on their sites. I’m always excited when I get a chance to reach out to a larger audience! I also caught up with a few financial bloggers last week:

• The Money Maniac: Investing Life Cycle To Wealth
• One Mint: Reverse Converts Ignites the Blogosphere
• Good Financial Cents: Will They or Won’t They?
• Lazy Man and Money: Murphy-Goode’s Smart Marketing with New Media
• Generation X Finance: Your Car is Making You Poor And What You Can Do About It
• The Sun’s Financial Diary: Where Is Gold Headed?
• Brip Blap: The Four(ty) Hour Workweek
• My Dollar Plan: Money By the Numbers
• Frugal Dad: How Many Nights A Week Do You Eat Out?
• Money Smart Life: Five Financial Pitfalls To Avoid During The Summer
• Joe Tax Payer: IRS Phones Home

Recent Carnivals

• Festival of Frugality: I’m glad to have made the Editor’s list last week for my post on best places to retire for cheap. My thanks to Stupid Cents for hosting this edition of the carnival.
• Carnival of Financial Planning
• Carnival of Pecuniary Delights
• Thrifty Thursday
• Money Hacks Carnival
• Carnival of Personal Finance
• Carnival of Debt Reduction

• Stock trades: Free stock trades from Zecco, Cheap stock trades from TradeKing, Stock news and Investment info at INO TV Free, No cost Trend Analysis for stocks
• Earn top returns: FNBO Direct [1.90%], HSBC Direct [1.65%], WTDirect [1.76%], E*Trade Bank [0.95%], ING Direct [.25% to 1.65%]
• Cash bonus: Discover More [$50], American Express [$25], Lending Club [$25]

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Categorized under: Money Articles, Smart Spending