When did you Begin Investing?

[LR1400]

Started in 401k in early 2000’s

 

Roth IRA later

 

Individual stocks around 2010. I’ve made some good one choices when kind of coat tailing/understanding the dynamics of an industry (maybe not the company 100%). First individual stock I bought was Exxon.

 

Saw the massive dip in the energy sector and decided to purchase many of those “cigar butts” and they continue to be loses of course. Everything else I own has done well, so far.....gold miners, financials.

 

I keep the portfolio highly concentrated mainly because I feel I need to know quite a bit about the business before buying. Time and opportunity has kept it concentrated and small.

 

I have thought about transitioning to primarily a cigar butt/Schloss style portfolio including international.

 

I have more net worth in real estate now. I like that sector for seemingly more consistent returns, for the ability to use long term debt, etc.

 

Should’ve started earlier.

 

[Guest longinvestor]

... , but my main interest was gauging what cycles most folks have been through. ...

 

I'm calling this old topic - from 2015 - out for a bump & spin, because I find the question interesting and usefull as background information for reading posts by fellow board members.

 

I hope you'll chim in, if you haven't already.

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

For my part, September 2012 @ age 54 [born 1958], for stocks. Approx. 15 years with bonds before that.

Interesting switch from bonds to stocks. Was that hard to do, mentally? Do you foresee going back to bonds in the future?

[Sharad]

1996 @ the age of 13. Was a great ride until it wasn't. Then I found religion. (Graham/Buffett)

 

 

1994 @ the age of 14. Have to confess I was a chartist, made 10x during dot com mania, lost it all and just in 2006/2007 I finally became a value investor.

 

I think there are a lot of us that jumped on the dot com bandwagon, lost nearly everything, and became more conservative, value investors (although everyone in the market claims to be a value investor). I started investing in high school in the 90s, but didn't put serious cash into it until 1998/99. Lost almost everything except a few purchases after the bubble burst. Those few taught me the value of patience and long-term (10+ year holdings) investing.

[John Hjorth]

longinvestor,

 

My story of ignorance & stupidity [indebtness, no crisis fund, really, for a rainy day [or perhaps even worse than just one rainy day, plus "the trees actually just grow into the sky" - at least for me, they do! - Perhaps I don't have any money, but I know my bank has - Perhaps I did not think carefully enough about if they wanted to lend some of them to me, when I needed access to cash ... etc.] is already ready posted on CoBF here. [ ; - ) ]

 

Ref. my post I'm linking to above, I had to stabilize my personal finances as first priority by getting a new job [that was not easy at that time, just post GFC], next I started to think about the future doing some projections in Excel continuing like I had done for quite some years. That scenario had absolutely no appeal to me. Talk about a poor retireé, with no freedom to move the ears just a bit. So it simply had to change going forward - to the better. The expected future outcome of status quo approach was simply not acceptable for me, because of my own mistakes earlier in life.

 

Bond investing like descibed worked well for me pre GFC, when I had no time nor energy for studying. Now, I haven't regretted the change one bit, even considering the risk involved.

 

It's a good platform being scared the crap out of [of what has just happened under the GFC], and at the same time hell bent to get in.

 

Personally, I also think finding CoBF and joining the board has been instrumental in the change. I have learned a lot over the last almost five years here. Thank you to all! - for making me less dumb, and less poor.

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

The future: I have no idea what that brings for me ... Maybe one day we should have a topic here on CoBF about how to "retire" from investing? [here, I mean without having blown up, that is ...]

[Jurgis]

1995 or so.

Peter Lynch stuff + Grahamy + Buffetty

On SI since 1997 or so.

Excursions into options, semiequips.

 

401(k) from 1999 or so.

Mostly unaffected by 2000-2001 crash: not too much money + my company did not crash + sold a lot to buy a house. Luck is better than smarts (but then I coulda/shoulda hit some tech 10x+baggers from there so...).

More money, more serious investing in 200X's.

Some windfall cash coming into 2007-2009 GFC, some great picks for huge 2009 (2010?) return. Luck is still better than smarts.

 

In 201Xs tried to cut down on number of positions - did not happen. Tried to move into long term hold (almost never sell), owner operator, Buffetty positions - still work in progress.

[John Hjorth]

Fascinating stuff posted so far, since I put the defibrillator on the topic. [ : - D ]  - The common denominator seems  - at least to some extent - to be trial and error efforts, resulting in failure - to some extent, causing adaption & adoption - to get better.

 

 

 

 

 

[RichardGibbons]

For me, it was somewhere around 1987 when I was 15. I started with TA, quickly abandoned that, and went toward mining stocks (basically buying when no news was coming out, and selling just before drilling results were released) and options investing. In grad school in 1996, I abandoned mining stocks to gravitate toward value investing. In the mid-2005, I began to focus less on cigar-butts and more on competitive advantages. In the last 4-5 years, I've been much more about growth with competitive advantages.

[Guest longinvestor]

Fascinating stuff posted so far, since I put the defibrillator on the topic. [ : - D ]  - The common denominator seems  - at least to some extent - to be trial and error efforts, resulting in failure - to some extent, causing adaption & adoption - to get better.

Fred Schwed has a great analogy in Where are the Customers Yachts There's no better lesson than taking some real money to the market and losing it. Reading books won't do. It's like trying to describe to a seventeen year old the difference between passion and romance.

[wondering]

I started in the early 1990s after university with mutual funds.  I read every investment book in our small town library.  In the early 2000s is when I made my first stock purchase Rothmans (which worked out well).  After that, most stock positions have worked out ok, with a few absolute disasters along the way.

[oddballstocks]

Started to invest on my own in 2005. 

 

I guess I'm ok at this, results have been satisfactory.  That's the key right?  Since I've had good results I'm 'good'.  If results were poor I'd just say your time horizon that you're judging me on wasn't long enough yet..

 

It's interesting what you can do with a little saving juiced with investing.  I commented to my wife this morning that she has $60k saved in IRA's.  That's notable considering she worked for six years and rarely saved more than $2-3k a year.  I've had some good picks and combined with time and she has more money saved for retirement compared to most 35 year olds.  And that's mind blowing because she only worked and saved for six years. 

 

I agree with Jurgis, luck plays a very important factor in all of this.  You need to know when to pull the trigger, but I've had a lot of lucky things happen too.

 

Time seems to be the biggest factor.  I sometimes toss around the idea of figuring out a way to setup an IRA for my kids, then tossing $10k in there for each.  They're young enough (and the youngest especially) that simple market growth on that 10k might mean they'd never have to save a cent for retirement.  For the baby $10k today at 10% is $5m when he retires at 65, a crazy thought.

[Liberty]

I'm not sure. Probably around 2003 or 2004.

[EricSchleien]

2005

[merkhet]

Bought my first stock at age 13 in 1996. I wouldn't call what I was doing "investing" though.

 

Began really investing in 2008/2009.

[John Hjorth]

Fascinating stuff posted so far, since I put the defibrillator on the topic. [ : - D ]  - The common denominator seems  - at least to some extent - to be trial and error efforts, resulting in failure - to some extent, causing adaption & adoption - to get better.

Fred Schwed has a great analogy in Where are the Customers Yachts There's no better lesson than taking some real money to the market and losing it. Reading books won't do. It's like trying to describe to a seventeen year old the difference between passion and romance.

 

It's so true, longinvestor! - Thanks.

[Kuhndan]

Bought 100 shares of Control Data in 1976 when I was 16. It took me seven years to save up $2,300 mowing grass and delivering papers. Sold out at $2,800 several months later and I’ve been hooked ever since. Couldn’t believe you could make that kind of money without “working” for it. Always been thankful that that first investment worked out. Things probably would have been different if it was a loss.

[DTEJD1997]

I bought my first shares in the Fall of 1989.  I was a Freshman at university.  I remember having to make the long distance call to the broker.

 

Later in the day my buddies & I were discussing what classes we went to and what we did earlier.  I can remember them looking at me like I was a space alien when I told them I bought some shares.

 

Good times!

[crastogi]

Since 99.  I have always been a value investor.  May be a function of bargaining for groceries in India where I grew up  ;)

 

Have held Berkshire since 2001

[LC]

Bought my first stock (JPM) at 13 because of a school project. Although it was in my father's account so he is the one reaping the benefits now...

 

I started investing for myself in 2010...also have always been a value investor, although I perform some mental gymnastics and tend towards the GARPy side of things.

[JanSvenda]

I started in 2011 @ 18. Back then my information channel consisted of MarketWatch, CNBC & Cramer (I followed him to CLR, a Bakken oil play). Focused on 'value' from the beginning, but that also meant that I saw opportunity in various commodity/macro stocks which gave me a good lesson about my 'competency'. Funny times.

 

After 2014 I started to focus on ever smaller companies and started to prefer balance sheet and asset plays (net-nets etc.) with the generalizing mentality that any investment thesis relating to a stock that trades at a premium to tangible book must include future forecasts regarding FCF which I am not good at.

 

In 2016 I read about Ethanex - http://www.becapitalmanagement.com/uploads/2/6/7/4/26748813/interview_by_chris_demuth_jr..pdf and started to look at the OTC market almost exclusively.

 

 

 

[Uccmal]

Hi John, 

 

Around 1996:  Started with mutual funds and quickly opened up a discount beokerage account when I realized the middle man effect.  First buys and sells were all by phone for $39.00 each (and that was cheap). 

 

First big holding was Fairfax.  Didn't know what I was doing - it was 3 times book when I bought it right before the TIG, C&F debacle.  But studying their investing style is where I learned alot back then. 

 

Finally got my retunrs out of the single digits in 2005.  In those days most of the money I invested was from my earnings.  I lived frugally.  In 2002 I met my wife and managed to hang onto 80000 dollars after buying a house and so on in 2004.  Probably only ever contributed another 20 g to the account. 

 

The rest is history.  I track my long term returns from 2005.  I have transitioned from deep value to Garp more recently.  GARP has evolved from studying what works best or would have worked best had I held it (HD, Sbux, AXP) bought in 2009 and quickly sold.  I realized that good companies are hard to find, so buy, and never sell. 

 

cheers, Al.

 

 

[abyli]

In 2002 I began to think how stock market works. Tried technical analysis for 6 months, never felt comfortable, then someone told me Warren Buffett, so I bought the book "Security Analysis", bought Fairfax and found the board Jan 2003. Followed Fairfax down and up for 10 years and finally got out in 2013. Made tons of mistakes, finally turned into high-quality high-growth value investor. :-)

[SharperDingaan]

I seem to recall that my first investment was in a modest few pounds of sugar, and some misc. equipment to produce some gallons of fine libation - that were sold for a healthy profit. At the fine young age of about 15!

 

SD

[Charlie]

In 1996 I began "investing": I bought and sold stocks I didn't understand.

In 1998 discovered Peter Lynch and Warren Buffett.

In 2000 bought and sold Berkshire. I think it was with a loss.

From 2001 until 2008 I worked for a rich man as investment analyst. The strategy he followed that

made the most sense to me was, that he bought one Berkshire A share per month.  :)

During the crisis I invested in some Berkshire positions and Berkshire.

In 2011 when Berkshires fundamentals got better and better and the shares got cheaper and cheaper I shifted everything

into Berkshire shares.  :)

Since then I have been buying a little Berkshire when money available and the price looked reasonable

and since then I was very good at doing nothing.  ;)

 

Also looking at other stocks, but the opportunity cost is very high with Berkshire shares.

[rkbabang]

In 1996 I began "investing": I bought and sold stocks I didn't understand.

In 1998 discovered Peter Lynch and Warren Buffett.

In 2000 bought and sold Berkshire. I think it was with a loss.

From 2001 until 2008 I worked for a rich man as investment analyst. The strategy he followed that

made the most sense to me was, that he bought one Berkshire A share per month.  :)

During the crisis I invested in some Berkshire positions and Berkshire.

In 2011 when Berkshires fundamentals got better and better and the shares got cheaper and cheaper I shifted everything

into Berkshire shares.  :)

Since then I have been buying a little Berkshire when money available and the price looked reasonable

and since then I was very good at doing nothing.  ;)

 

Also looking at other stocks, but the opportunity cost is very high with Berkshire shares.

 

Nice.  I was just thinking if I just buy one less Ferrari every month I could buy an A-share instead.  :)

 

[John Hjorth]

I seem to recall that my first investment was in a modest few pounds of sugar, and some misc. equipment to produce some gallons of fine libation - that were sold for a healthy profit. At the fine young age of about 15!

 

SD

 

lol. Exactly also your post I was waiting for ... - with a lot of patience! - And now I see you posting this. [: - ) ]

 

I think it's evident for everybody, who have read this board for several years, that you have done extremely well for your self, and your family and friends, in the private partnerships. [i remember ericopoly once calling the whole ting of yours a "gang" or a "mob" [: - ) ].

 

I hope that we can settle on your long story short from you here. ... Please! [ : -) ]