One afternoon when I was 14, my father did something
crazy.
At the time, I thought I was being punished -- but looking
back on it, I realize he was just trying to keep me from
making two very costly mistakes.
The most important thing in life
For you, it might be your family, your career, a sport,
or even a hobby. For me, at 14, it was Kelly Kapowski -- a
beautiful, brunette cheerleader who starred on a teeny-bop TV
show called
Saved by the Bell.
So you can imagine my dismay when, in the middle of my
favorite episode, dear old Dad unplugged our TV, dumped a
pile of books in my lap, and dropped this bombshell: If I
wanted to go to college, I'd have to start learning about
investing right then and there.
Reading a bunch of investment guides (including one
authored by two "Fools" I would one day end up working for)
didn't hold a candle to watching the lovely Kelly Kapowski
shake her pom-poms. But the TV wasn't going back on until I
finished them, so I did -- without really paying any
attention to anything I read.
Hindsight is a cruel 20/20
Thankfully, even though I blew off the idea of
investing, my old man didn't -- I ended up with a college
degree and without any student loans to pay off. But I kick
myself every day for not starting to invest my own money back
then.
Of course, I never would have thought twice about working
all summer so I could drop a grand on a computer, trendy
clothes, CDs, and video games, or a hot new item known as a
"cellular telephone," but I wouldn't have dreamed of dropping
that same grand to buy stock in any of my favorite companies.
Big mistake.
Had I taken $1,000 and invested it in
Apple back then, right now I could buy an
iMac, iPod, and iPhone -- and take them with me on a two-week
yacht trip around St. Bart's.
And while $1,000 could have bought me quite a stack of
pre-frayed jeans and plaid shirts back then, had I invested
that money in
American Eagle , right now I'd have enough to
pay my rent for a full year -- with plenty left over to pick
up some designer denim in Paris.
And just look at how a few of my other favorite companies
performed.
Stock
Gain 1996-2009
Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:
ANF)
222%
GAP (NYSE: GPS)
179%
IBM (NYSE: IBM)
316%
McDonald's (NYSE: MCD)
223%
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Continued... |