Holiday Gift Guide 2010 : GoalMine

People wrack their brains trying to figure out just the right holiday gift, but too often money is wasted on things that people don’t need or use. In fact, 36 percent of gift recipients in 2009 planned to “re-gift” unwanted items, according to a survey by Consumer Reports. We are not big on “gift cards.” In fact, we see them as a rip off. Why would you essentially give companies a free loan just because they printed up some pretty plastic cards with their logo on them? Moreover, gift cards often have fees and rules that take away from the flexibility one has with cash. If you want to give cash, give cash along with a nice card. However, while giving cash is great, how about giving something even better? How about giving cash that can grow?

Not everyone is savvy about investing money, not everyone knows how to build wealth, but there IS a new way to give a gift this holiday season that is both meaningful and actually grows in value. Set them up with a  GoalMine account. How would one actually go about “giving” someone one of these as a present? GoalMine has these things called GoalPacks. They are gift cards (we know what we said about gift cards, but more on this later) that can be redeemed for GoalMine mutual fund and savings accounts. They come in denominations of $25, $50, $100 and $200.

Ok…so how are these different than regular gift cards? The big difference between GoalMine gift cards and the others is GoalPacks the first gift cards to make the gifting of mutual funds possible and practical. Therefore, they are gift cards that can grow in value over time. Can any of the others make the same claim? GoalPacks let you set up and save towards a goal—whether it’s saving for a down payment on a house, college tuition for your child, a rainy day fund or anything in between. And with the gift card model, friends and family can contribute to the goals as well.

Go here to learn more about this simple, social way to give, invest, and save. This is one of the easiest ways to give as a gift that really does keep giving. Happy Holidays!