5 Holiday Gifts For The Investor On Your List

But before you decide that a fruitcake, bold-striped sweater, or Chili's gift card is the best you're going to be able to do, why not think about giving them a financial leg up with a great investing gift? Here are five such gifts that could turn your holiday generosity into a very wealthy future for your recipient.

1. One Up on Wall Street
Of course, that alone doesn't make the book great. It's also engaging, easy to read, and presents concepts that are accessible for all levels of investors. Consider it part of the required reading list for Investing 101.

2. The Intelligent Investor
If you're going to cook, you read Julia Child. If you want to play golf, Tiger Woods isn't a bad direction to turn. But if you want to be an investor, you've got to read Ben Graham. Yes, that's a bold statement, since Graham focused on a specific type of investing (value investing). But if you ask me, value investing is the only worthwhile investing.

Graham's first book was Security Analysis, a dense tome written in the aftermath of the Great Depression. The Intelligent Investor is a much-more-readable follow-up that benefits in its newer printings from some great commentary from Jason Zweig. While The Intelligent Investoris a far easier read than Security Analysis, it's still a very heavy read, so if we're calling One Up on Wall Street part of Investing 101, The Intelligent Investor is part of the 200-level courses.

3. HP 12c Financial Calculator
These days, we primarily think about Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) in terms of printers, laptop computers, and other higher-order tech gear. But the good old HP 12c calculator is stillthe standard for financial professionals. In fact, when I started in private equity, I had what I considered at the time to be a "normal" calculator. It wasn't a clunky Texas Instruments graphing calculator, but let's just say it was a second cousin. My boss at the time heckled me for weeks about the calculator (you need a thick skin in that industry), until I finally broke down and got an HP 12c. Today, I still have the same one bruised and battered but still perfectly functional and despite having three computer monitors in front of me while I work, it still carries the load when it comes to quick calculations.

But what stock should you choose? If we're talking about a new investor here, it's best to go with a company that's easy to understand, in an industry that they're already familiar with. And since you probably want to avoid having the experience become a lesson in what makes a stock plummet, you probably want to stick to stocks that currently carry a reasonable valuation.

The stocks that I've picked from the larger list are businesses that even a new investor should be familiar with and able to dive into. Intel provides the processor chips for much of the computing world, PepsiCo sells a variety of beverages along with snacks like Doritos, and Boeing builds the massive airplanes that dominate our skies. Kellogg is also on the food side, making my personal favorite food product, cereal, and VF owns a stash of clothing brands that includes 7 for All Mankind, The North Face, and Wrangler.