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Recently my oldest son turned 16 and I was wondering for weeks beforehand what to get him for his birthday. I knew he would like some new sneakers but I also wanted to get him something that wouldn’t just be “stuff”.

Stuff only lasts for a short period of time and then kids will just forget how much they liked it at first anyway. Getting him a gift that would mean something to him years later was important to me. Buying him stock in a company that made products that he liked and used seemed like a good idea.

I eventually decided to get him some Vans sneakers and 16 dollars worth of VF Corp. (stock symbol: VFC), the company that owned the Vans brand at the time of me writing this. The idea was to get him interested in the companies behind brands that he loves and in the stock market in general.

My hope was that he would remember that his father bought him stock for his birthday long after the sneakers wear out. It’s all part of me trying to educate him on finances and getting interested in investing. I tried to make it more memorable by buying him 16 dollars in stock for his 16th birthday.

Anything to leave an impression. (I also opened him up a savings account on his 13th birthday with 13 dollars.)

He thought it was cool but didn’t seem excited about it. There’s still time, he may become more fascinated by it later on in life and that’s fine by me. I’m just planting seeds here, no need to rush.

I’m just trying to spark his interest and maybe build him a nice portfolio that he can tap into as an adult. You may want to do the same.

It’s very easy to do in this day and age with all the new investing apps out there. I used an app called Stockpile that you may want to try.