1. Buy someone some gold
With its stable prices even in times of crisis and the fact that it enjoys a general increase in value over time, gold is a safe investment tool — be it for yourself, or someone else.
What makes it even better? Gold is an investment instrument with a physical form, which translates to say that you can give it to someone as a beautiful gift with your own hands! Just head on over to a trusted gold trader like Public Gold or a reliable jeweller, purchase your preferred amount of gold, then pack it all up and give it to your intended recipient.
Alternatively, if you would like to purchase gold in someone’s name in small amounts and without giving them the task of physically protecting and safeguarding this investment, you could opt to create an account for them on an online gold trading service like HelloGold.
Your gift recipient will then be able to sell this gold during emergencies or use it to earn some profit by trading it in the future when they feel that the price is right. Talk about making a shiny long-term difference!
2. Invest in a business idea
Yes, you might not be in a position to hire your loved ones — but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re unable to help them create a job or career for themselves.
If your gift recipient has a potentially profitable business idea, why not support him or her by investing some money in this idea? You could do this by giving them capital, or perhaps purchasing some of the tools that he or she needs.
For example, if your friend Ah Zai would like to start selling his incredible cakes on a small scale, but needs a bigger oven to do so, you could help by buying him an oven. All you have to do is understand what the business idea is and discover what your friend or loved one needs to make that idea a reality.
This gesture could help secure your recipient a viable source of income in the future. It might even turn out to be a good financial move for you if you and your recipient agree that you can be regarded as an investor in the business and will thus be entitled to some of its profits.
3. Give someone an education
Most of us are probably very familiar with this saying, which is also why we understand that investing in education is one of the best things you can do with your money. Education can give you the skills and knowledge you need to attain a better future, after all.“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”
As such, this Christmas, consider giving your loved ones a treat by helping them pay for a class, course, or lesson that they’re interested in! For instance, you could pay for one vocal training session for an aspiring singer, weekend cooking classes for those who dream of kicking off their own food businesses, or online classes in creative writing or programming for a friend who lost their job recently and is now looking for work online.
The latter of the three examples above is especially relevant today, seeing as COVID19 has transformed the way we work dramatically — forcing more and more people to work online though they may not necessarily have the skills to do so.
4. Pay bills for someone
This may seem like a small and mundane gesture on the surface because we technically pay our bills and debts all the time. However, let’s not forget that no amount of money is insignificant, as even small amounts can be saved up to create a great impact.
By paying for someone’s bills this Christmas season, you would not only be giving them the chance to savour a big sigh of relief, but also provide them the opportunity to use the amount that they have put aside for those bills as an investment. Regardless of whether it ends up in their savings plan or in a purchase of stocks, it would be a great way to help out — because you’re giving them the chance to do something that they might not have been able to afford a little while ago.
Plus, with online banking services and digital payment options like JomPAY, paying your bills in Malaysia has never been easier.
Naturally, some of your loved ones may be a little shy about sharing how much their monthly bills cost for personal reasons. In such cases, you could always make your estimates and pay an amount that you deem suitable.
5. Start a crowdfunding campaign for a friend
Another way for you to help a friend invest in his or her business idea — and create a new source of income for themselves in the process — would be to create a crowdfunding campaign on their behalf.
If the term ‘crowdfunding’ is new to you, here’s what you need to know: crowdfunding is the process of accumulating investments from various individuals or parties to be invested in one particular product or cause. These investors can be anywhere in the world because crowdfunding is normally done online through websites like Mystartr, pitchIN or Kickstarter.
Finally, once the investment goal is reached and the product or business is launched, its owners will repay investors by giving them those products or services and other rewards by a specified deadline.
The Christmas gift idea here would be to either start and manage a crowdfunding campaign for a friend or a loved one, or start and invest in the campaign yourself. It’s very easy to set up, and you have a huge variety of crowdfunding platforms to choose from!
6. Buy someone a personal finance book
You may think this sounds dumb, like why buy someone a book when you can give them something more exquisite, but that’s where you’re wrong boy. Books actually make a good gift for a holiday season compared to something like, let’s say, an iPhone 13.
By buying someone a personal finance book, you are actually indirectly helping them out. People often say that books are like a river of knowledge. So, by reading more on how to manage their personal finances correctly, there’s a higher chance they could avoid the worst outcome of getting bankrupt themselves.
You could always go to your nearest bookstore like Popular, MPH or Bookxcess to buy the book you want. They do also sell stationeries like gift wraps for you to wrap up your presents nicely before giving out to the other person. If you don’t want to go out, you can always buy an ebook on Google Play Books or Amazon Kindle.
7. Help someone invest in cryptocurrency
Bitcoin, surely you would have heard of it right? Cryptocurrency like Bitcoin and Ethereum is basically the talk of the town currently. Everybody, including your parents or grandparents might have already been investing in it to keep up with the current trend. Also with the media constantly reminding us how many people have become millionaires or billionaires by investing in crypto, it’s no wonder something so niche in the past would become this mainstream right now.
It’s good to invest in Bitcoin, but you would need to first understand what cryptocurrency is first before buying it. For this, we have compiled an article on what cryptocurrency is and where to buy it in Malaysia. There are a lot of cryptocurrencies to choose from in the market right now so we’ve also compiled a list of mainstream crypto and what to look out for while buying them.
There’s no problem with buying crypto per se, but you would still need to do your research first before buying it as it’s actually more riskier than people thought it to be. There’s really no way of telling what will take off and what won’t, so in cases like this, you just have to trust your research and due diligence and make an educated choice. Wouldn’t want your friend to come complaining why the coin you bought for him as a gift is constantly dropping in value right?
8. Donate to charity
If your friends don’t want any gifts for this Christmas, instead of buying some random stuff, why not donate it to charity instead. You could always discuss with your friends what to buy and where to donate it to as a form of good deeds for Christmas.
There are a lot of different local charities you could donate to, such as the National Cancer Society of Malaysia, the Borneo Child Aid Society, or the National Autism Society Of Malaysia, just to name a few. However, do be aware of fake charity collectors. For that, we’ve compiled a list of ways to identify these types of people here. We would recommend it’s better for you to contact the charity directly instead of going through a third person for safety purposes.
Alternatively, if you can’t think of anything to buy for the charities, you could always volunteer yourselves in it. It’s always great to bring the Christmas festive mood to people who can’t celebrate it outdoors like us. For that, we’ve also compiled a list of organizations or societies you could volunteer at here so you wouldn’t have to spend too much of your time choosing.
Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!
It’s important to remember that we should be extra-creative with our gift-giving this year, especially since it isn’t a good idea to go shopping physically in huge crowds at present. Keep in mind that gifts which represent an element of investment also tend to last very long, even if they aren’t always physical and might seem to be trivial at first glance.Above all else, if you can afford to do so, remember that there’s nothing like giving your loved ones a Christmas with fewer worries and fears — and perhaps even give them a better 2022 in the process. Merry Christmas!
*The above article is intended for informational purposes only. Loanstreet accepts no responsibility for loss that may arise from reliance on information contained in the article.
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