I spend a good deal of my time around people that have children that are under the age of five. The other day, I overheard a coworker talking to another coworker about a gift a family member wanted to buy. It was a toy Ferrari car.
As I parent, I understand the feeling we have when we buy our child a gift that makes them happy! Believe me, I get it.
But if a family member or friend asks, “What should I buy your child for Christmas?” Ask for cash to invest in stocks. I beg you.
The toys we buy our children bring short-term happiness. When we are 20 or 30 years old, the gift that we had to have as a youngster will be less than insignificant. However, a $100 investment made when the child is a year old could be worth tens of thousands – even six figures! – when the kid is 20.
Trust me the potential of having $100,000 at 20 will trump any gift you received the last 20 years!
No idea where to start? My short guide, The Stock Market is For Everyone, will get you started with everything you need to know.
My book, The Stock Market is For Everyone, is a short guide for the beginning, inexperienced investor that is easy to understand and can be put into action immediately.
This is the final post in my series outlining how investing $1,000 can set your child up for life.
If you missed any part of this series, or just want to go over it from the beginning, click here. All the posts are listed from the bottom up.
This last post is meant to serve as an inspiration to you. It’s a list of real-life investments that your parents could have made that turned your birthday into a true bonanza.
Find the year that you were born, and take a look. Where would you be today had your parents invested $1000 in the listed stock?
Best Birthday Bonanza Stocks Over the Last 50 Years
Birth Year
Stock
Initial Investment
Total Value, July 2018
1968
Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO)
$1000
$1,250,000
1969
Town Centre Securities (LON: TOWN)
$1000
$1,100,000
1970
Walmart (NYSE: WMT)
$1000
$11,000,000
1971
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC)
$1000
$1,000,000
1972
Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV)
$1000
$3,000,000
1973
Walgreens (NASDAQ: WBA)
$1000
$700,000
1974
Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA)
$1000
$4,500,000
1975
TD Bank (NYSE: TD)
$1000
$400,000
1976
Boeing (NYSE: BA)
$1000
$1,300,000
1977
Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT)
$1000
$5,000,000
1978
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ)
$1000
$200,000
1979
Eaton Vance (NYSE: EV)
$1000
$200,000
1980
Kellogg (NYSE: K)
$1000
$95,600
1981
Home Depot (NYSE: HD)
$1000
$8,377,680
1982
Bemis (NYSE: BMS)
$1000
$2,000,000
1983
M & T Bank (NYSE: MTB)
$1000
$3,100,000
1984
United Healthcare (NYSE: UNH)
$1000
$2,153,536
1985
McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD)
$1000
$108,000
1986
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)
$1000
$1,316,158
1987
Nike (NYSE: NKE)
$1000
$1,529,800
1988
Dell Computer (NYSE: DVMT)
$1000
$157,000
1989
Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS)
$1000
$31,481
1990
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO)
$1000
$440,000
1991
Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM)
$1000
$125,300
1992
Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX)
$1000
$950,000
1993
Infosys (NYSE: INFY)
$1000
$1,600,000
1994
Capita (LON: CPI)
$1000
$50,000
1995
Monster Beverage (NASDAQ: MNST)
$1000
$435,018
1996
Yahoo (NASDAQ: AABA)
$1000
$60,000
1997
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)
$1000
$550,000
1998
eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY)
$1000
$180,000
1999
Keurig Green Mountain (no longer publicly traded)
$1000
$500,000
2000
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA)
$1000
$103,700
2001
Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD)
$1000
$46,140
2002
Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI)
$1000
$22,000
2003
Marvel Entertainment (acquired by Disney, no longer publicly traded)
My book, The Stock Market is For Everyone, is a short guide for the beginning, inexperienced investor that is easy to understand and can be put into action immediately.
