Invest

When we had our first baby we had very little money. My parents were supportive of us, helping with some of the necessities while allowing us to struggle to provide at the same time. But they gave us a great gift in the first month of life for each of our three children: mutual funds. My parents opened up a Fidelity Blue Chip account for each child, with us as the custodians, and told us to just sit on them until college.

Last night I called Fidelity to learn how to access the funds because our oldest starts school next month. I am pleased to be able to say that my parents’ investment 18 years ago has tripled over the years, and will cover almost 100% of the first year of college. It feels so good to be able to show our kids that they have been invested in, through time, energy and even mutual funds.

If my parents had simply written us a check for us to invest years ago, we would have probably bought our kids beautiful bedroom furniture or justified some other purchase; investing it for us was a wise move. There are many ways to love others, and this act of love will continue on for years to come.