Advertisement

The Long Haul

Share

In high school in 1968, I became interested in the stock market. Everybody laughed. In researching many companies at the library, Canadian Pacific Ltd. stood out. I reviewed its financial reports and historical performance. Then I found a chart of the Dow Jones industrial average going back to the 1800s. (Big lesson there: Hang on for the long haul.) My dad opened a brokerage account for me, and I bought some shares with $500 of lawn-cutting money. By college, it was worth almost $5,000. I regularly ‘paid myself first’ from every paycheck. I retired at 39. Nobody’s laughing now--except me!

--Sean Senna, Tucson, Ariz.

*

The Fool Responds: We love hearing about people who got hooked on investing when they were very young. That’s because these folks have the most time to let their money grow. Incidentally, the Fool now has an online area for teen investors at https://www.fool.com/teens.

Advertisement