Marketing scheme for brokerage houses.

Take a brokerage house (say, ShareBuilder) and have it set aside 100 custodial accounts with $500 in each. Work out a deal with five school districts (preferably poorer school districts, where the students' parents have a spotty history of saving) to offer a class on financial security (where the students would learn about balancing a checkbook, the true costs of credit card debt, trading stocks, etc.). Limit enrollment to twenty students. Give those students free reign over the custodial accounts, but limit their ability to withdraw until they reach the age of 21. Call it charity. Call it investing in future investors. Call it marketing. Call it a public relations coup. Relatively inexpensive, but assuming the brokerage house's marketing department has any kind of capacity to spin and get news coverage, a win. Also keep in mind the costs are less than they initially appear: not only will the $500 be sapped by transaction fees, at least some of these youngsters will eventually become real traders. Sure some will blow whatever is left after they turn 21. But others will deposit more. And perhaps serve as an example to their families, their friends, etc.