Hi guys! When I decided to try my luck in the world of investment and stocks, I only had a limited amount to invest. I only had around $2,500 so I decided to put it first in an insurance investment. Besides being new in investing, I felt more secure putting my money first in insurance because they have professional fund managers that would manage your money and put it on the best companies they know. How about you, how much was your initial investment when you first started? How has your portfolio grew from the time you started?
My first try in stocks is the shares of a telecoms worth $120 (in pesos). That's pretty small and I thought it was really the start until the cellphone came along that obliterated the value of pages which our stocks depended on. To make the story short, that $120 investment turned into stone. Now my shares of stocks is worth $10,000 and it is the stocks of our bank, my employer. I think that amount of shares is already enough, big money.
I've always had some sort of investment interests going on, so it's hard to put a date and a figure on when I began and how much I had to start investing. But I remember about 5 years ago, not long after the crash, that I really started to get serious about stock market investment. I liquidated some savings accounts, and started trading with a pot of about £2000. I've been adding to that, as well as making money off of my investments, so off the top of my head it's hard to say here how much I've made in that time.
I had a system where each month a couple hundred euros from my bank account would be automatically invested into a few mutual funds. My first stock purchase came a couple years later, it was around 500 euros if I remember correctly. And since then I've been putting more and more money in each year.
I'm also thinking of adding more each year especially this year while almost all shares are down due to the oil situation and China's economic slowdown. I noticed how low the stocks turned out from last year so I want to take this chance to add more.
I managed to have a bit of good fortune some 20+ years ago in my mid twenties, made a couple of smart moves at a good time, and started with a ~ $100k investment in a taxable account. I also started investing a little each payday in a work 401k plan at about that time, and also got into the IRA and eventually a SEP IRA as a business owner over the years as well. Very happy overall with it all. Have made my share of minor mistakes, and a couple of large mistakes early on, but still going strong.
My first experience in investing was so tiny, and I was so young, that it probably doesn't even count. But I'll share it anyhow. The Internet was relatively new (well, to me at least, I should say... it was about 18 years ago.) Anyhow, a website was just starting up and... ya know, I can't even remember what I had to do for it... maybe just a little promotion, but they were handing out free stocks. I was given ten shares. Skeptic that I am, I put the paperwork in the safe and forgot about it. Years later, I knew that the company had really taken off, so I checked into my stocks and the stock I'd paid nothing for was suddenly worth over $300. And I thought "oooh, this is alright!) Well, it's worth a lot more now but I still generally "forget about it" for the most part. But it gave me "the taste." Now, I can't really get into the stock market even watching that stock value grow... but it made me want to start looking into other investment options. I chose gold and real estate and it's been a good choice so far.
I wish I could have seen that website 18 years ago too. Anyway, good for you because you were one of the lucky ones who were able to avail of the free stocks they were handing out. If we really think of investing in stocks long term, we could get surprised at how our money has grown over the years. I guess that's one of the advantages of investing, getting the surprise of your life after you have made the discipline to invest and wait until such time that your money has already increased in value.
