Over the years I've come across some very interesting internet content. Early in High School, I read over an entire site called The Motley Fool where adults and 40-somethings wrote articles on investing, personal finance, and retirement. It was a great read, and I followed their advice on valuating companies by their balance sheets and other financial fillings. I came up with several good companies but the problem was, I didn't have much money.
Years later while in college, I bought into a pharmaceutical company after they announced the withdrawal of a major money-generating drug. As I watched their announcement, it appeared to me that they were really being honest about the danger of the drug. I was also taken aback by the fact that they were outright withdrawing it without intervention from the FDA. The stock price was dealt a major hit during the next few weeks as I contemplated investing while still in college.
I bought in at the market price and set up an automatic monthly purchase, and in the three and a half year since it's up 30%, and has been paying dividends all along. To be honest though, I didn't invest any great sum, just some money I had left from my student loans. Here is when I got careless however. I purchased stock in Dell, at around $30-$32 per share based solely on reviews at The Motley Fool. If you check what dell is at you'll see I've lost quite a bit. The good news is it's not lost until you sell, but even analysts aren't giving much hope for prices over $32 per share.
All of the loss hasn't been in vain, however. I experienced first hand that investing in the stock market is something that can easily be done by an average person. I've read that many people have a guilty feeling when it comes to investing, retirement and saving for the future. I realize now that the best place for my money is to pay off loans. Until those loans are at lower interests or payed off, I'll be satisfied in knowing I am able to buy more shares of Dell whenever I want.
