The holidays are soon approaching, and you’re still trying to find that last, perfect gift.  When you think of all the major department stores you can go to, sometimes what’s left out is one of the biggest markets of all. That market is the stock market (which happens to be having one of the biggest clearance sales in history, by the ways).  Here are three unique gifts that can be given at this holiday time of the year.   Check out the video at WSIL TV3.

 1. Stock certificate

 You have a significant other or spouse that has a hobby,  or that’s really into something special?  Maybe they drive a Harley or always wanted a Harley, or maybe they’ve always loved John Deere growing up.  Well, you could always buy them a stock certificate of their favorite company.  Going through a broker dealer might be a bit of a process, especially for surprises, since you would need to have an account open in that person’s name.  This would obviously require personal information such as date of birth, Social, driver’s license, etc., but if you already have a joint account with your spouse, you can always do it in that format. 

If that is not an option, there are some online companies that do just sell one share of stock that I came across.  One example is www.OneShare.com.  They specialize in issuing just one stock certificate and even give you the option of having it framed.  It might be too late for Christmas this year, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t buy your spouse that Disney stock that she wanted, since she’s always loved Cinderella as a kid. 

2. Certificate for College Savings

 In the past, I’ve actually had a few clients that wanted to open a 529 college savings plan for either a friend’s child or a family member’s child.  In order to do so, we had to get the personal information of the minor, which would be the Social and date of birth.  With that, we were able to open the account with the friend being the custodian on the account.  We then presented the certificate- obviously it’s not exciting getting a confirmation in the mail as a Christmas gift, but what we were able to do was print off a certificate with our fancy emblem that showed that we had deposited funds into the account.  A neat little gift that keeps on giving, especially if the child ends up going on to college later on in life.  

3. Investing or Personal Finance Books

Whoever thinks to buy a personal finance book as a gift?  I might be the only one, but it’s not a bad idea.  Two books that I’ve read that have made a pretty big difference in my life have been Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, as well as David Bach’s  The Automatic Millionaire.  Both these two books were very insightful and helped me make some serious and good financial decisions in my life.  You never know, a $10 book could change somebody’s financial well-being for the rest of their life.  Now that, in my opinion, is a great gift.  

Other gift ideas from the blogoshpere:

Cash Money Life: 10 Unique Gift Ideas

Plonkee Monkey: 8 Reasonbly Gift basket Ideas

Being Frugal: Frugal Gift Ideas

And here’s one that I need to have my wife read:

Mrs. Micah: Coming up with a Christmas Gift  for my Husband

Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC