Stocks for Christmas? Gee Thanks Mom!

Have you read any of the "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" books? They are excellent books for people who want to increase their financial savvy. I have been investing in mutual funds and stocks for over 10 years and it has helped increased our family's financial worth. Now I want my kids to learn the different ways that they can get their money to work for them. For Christmas, I got my 12 year old daughter stock in AFLAC and MDU. My 14 year old son got Emerson Electric and ITT Industries. As you can imagine, neither of them were thrilled with their presents. However, I also got them the game "Cash Flow 101" (you can find this on the Rich Dad, Poor Dad website or sometimes on Ebay). This game is great to teach kids (and adults) how to make their money work for them. I recommend it highly. Over Christmas, we spent almost one whole day playing the Cash Flow game. You are randomly given an occupation. My son was not excited when he got to be a janitor with minimal income and my daughter got to be a doctor. However, it soon became apparent that the doctor had much higher expenses and he learned that a janitor can still invest and make money. I hope the next time I can tell you that the kids are going to NASDAQ everyday to check how their stocks are doing. Slowly but surely I think they are learning what it takes to make passive income (have their money work for them).