Millionaire in the Making!
Sep 19 '00
A little over 10 years ago I read a book about investing in Dividend Reinvestment Plans. It really spurred my interest like nothing else I've ever read (and I read a lot). If the book could be believed, here was a way to invest small amounts of money over a long period of time and accumulate a sizeable portfolio.
I read one or two more books, called several companies that I was interested in investing in and asked for a prospectus (their financial reporting that is released to stockholders or potential stockholders).
I found several companies that allow you to purchase stock direct from the company without going through a broker and started mailing out checks. I started out with a total investment of $500. I bought stock in 3 companies to begin with. Each month or quarter, depending on when I had a little extra $, I would send an additional investment to those companies. After about 3-4 months I bought shares of a couple more companies.
As I am an avid surfer, I have checked out several on-line sites that give information about Dividend Reinvestment Plans and Direct Stock Purchase Plans. Three of my favorites are www.buyandhold.com, www.netstockdirect.com and www.dripinvestor.com. All have loads of information for someone just starting out with investing in DRIPs.
I now make much more money than I did 10 years ago fresh out of college, however, I still do not pay a broker to "manage" my stock portfolio. I have discovered I can do so myself at a much lower cost (without all those high brokerage fees) and I can feel proud of my accomplishments when I look at the portfolio I have grown in the last 10 years. At the current growth rate of my portfolio, in another 5 years I will exceed $1,000,000. (Of course, I am faithful about sending in additional investments at the end of paying my monthly expenses....but I usually invest $50 here, $100 there, sometimes only $25, occasionally if I get a bonus I'll send in $500-1000).
The stock market used to scare me until I realized if you invest in stocks for the long-haul, not short-term profits, you can't go wrong. Also, all it takes to make smart investment choices is to choose companies you know of and trust (i.e. some of my investments are in Wal-mart, McDonalds, Coca-Cola), and then pick some you've read up on that are rated by the experts as a "buy" or "strong buy" (you can check any company's rating by the analysts on many sites...I personally use www.quicken.com)....some of my current hot-performers are Quanta Services, Merck, Paychex.
Stocks are a wonderful way to accumulate wealth for the future, you just have to be committed to put the money in faithfully (whatever you can spare, even if it's only $10 that month), and allow the dividends to reinvest themselves.
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Epinions.com ID:
jcridge
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Location: forsyth, ga
Reviews written: 34
Trusted by: 0 members
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