Quote:
Originally Posted by Boomer
OBB,
That is interesting about your grandmother educating her grandchildren about stocks. Experience is the best teacher.
She gave you the experience of owning stock when you were still a kid, and that got your attention and gave you a level of understanding of how stocks work.
You have had the experience of winning. You have had the experience of losing. You have learned things about yourself -- where money is concerned. You have been able to use the experience your grandmother gave you for all this time and you will continue to use it. Good for her. And good for you. Those stock certificates were much better for the future you than a Barbie Doll would have been.
I like the way you categorize or compartmentalize what each stock can do to for you -- this-got-that or this-will-get-that. (houses, cars, savings, income, etc.)
I do the same thing. . .
We can marry stocks. We can date stocks. I have done both. It just depends on what the goal is for each one.
Boomer
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I get a kick out of watching my Intel a few times every year, or when the company makes the news. But yes my grandmother was a financial genius. She and my grandfather lived in near-poverty while he was finishing dental school. He came from a family of 11 kids, several of whom were dead by the time he was old enough for college. The remaining siblings all chipped in to cover his tuition; he was the first to graduate from a college in this country (his parents were immigrants).
Every cent Papa earned, was immediately turned over to Gogi (my grandmother). She pinched pennies like a boss. Papa was a dentist during the depression and would receive chickens (sometimes alive, mostly butchered), tree-trimming, car repair, etc. in trade because people in his town couldn't afford to pay for him to treat an abscessed tooth. So they didn't have a lot of money. What they had, Gogi would save, and then invest.
By the time they had both passed, over a million dollars in investments, insurance, and other assets, was split between her three children, 6 grandchildren, and several charities including a sizeable donation to Tufts medical school, where he received his doctorate.
So we grew up - not wealthy, but understanding wealth, understanding what it means to have, and to not have, money. It is part of our family history and heritage to appreciate it, even if we don't end up working in the financial world or doing investments of our own.