I went to oneshare.com and purchased one share of Burlington Northern (NYSE: BNI) for my child's birthday. I printed out an announcement and gave it to him. He has birthday on the brain. Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) is nice too, but there's a Burlington Northern railway a few miles west of us, by the beach, and I wanted something my son could see and identify.
I could also put Boeing (NYSE:BA) and Microsoft (NASD:MSFT) in his Coverdell plan too, as he identifies those company logos readily. Union Pacific will have to wait until Christmas.

When I told my husband what I had done (it was pricey! fees, shipping, framing, gift wrap, commission!) he said "maybe I should start buying railroad stock, with peak oil to deal with." Yes! A possible convert! We can discuss DRPs (thanks for the moneypaper.com idea, baselle) and Sharebuilder.com!



I quipped, "yes, we can be the Monopoly family. I bought Water Works (the WaterShares Exchange Traded Fund PHO), you and the boy can buy the railroads, and I'll look into another utility and maybe some Kinder Morgan Partners and commercial real estate trusts."