I spent my last few months in Vietnam in a staff job and used my free franking to send for annual reports on every company I could find an address for. Meanwhile my savings were in the 10% pot the government gave us while in the war zone.
I finally selected stocks
Roan Selection Trust, paying a very nice high dividend
RCA, major TV manufacturer
Superscope, sole importer of Sony products
On arrival back in the states I went to retrieve my pile of money, which was about $4000 as I recall, and was told I had to wait 3 months. I was upset. After all that heavy planning and research. But during that 3 months RCA got out of the TV business and the stock tanked, Sony told Superscope that it would henceforth market its own products in the USA, and Roan Selection Trust was taken over by the Zambian government.
I trudged over to my local savings and loan and put the money in CDs. Later CDs would be a great investment during the Carter Administration.
When I got out of the Army I put all I could afford into 401k funds. Now my nest egg is in ETFs.
There are lessons there
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