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Friday, February 7, 1997
The Daily Dow FOOL GLOBAL WIRE by Robert Sheard LEXINGTON, KY. (February 7) -- Back in my youth I used to be a long-distance runner. Years, bad knees, and more extra pounds than I like to admit have seen the end of those days. But some of the games I used to play with my own mind while logging the miles are still helpful to me these days. One of them is a simple savings game I used to play. I used to dump my pocket change into a bucket at the end of the day and then I'd count out a penny a lap or a certain amount per mile and each day that amount got put away in my savings account (I wasn't Foolish enough in those days to know about DRiPs or Index funds). And the thing that surprised me after a year or so is how much had accumulated from lots of seemingly insignificant sums. If I had only known about the magic of compounding back then, it might be worth a sizable amount today. As it is, it helped me get started on my own portfolio when I discovered all this Foolishness and studied the stock market. Those of you who read this column regularly can already write the next sentence or two for me, I suppose. But they bear repeating because they're the keys to building wealth for everybody. Start wherever you are; use the stock market as a lifetime savings vehicle, not a short-term roulette wheel; add money frequently; and use strategies that have proven successful in the past and give you a balanced portfolio of common stocks. I don't mean to belittle the investment process by saying that it's easy, but it's certainly not as hard as the Wall Street establishment wants you to believe, especially if you're measuring progress in years rather than minutes. If everyone realized that a minimum of homework could generate returns far better than the vast majority of investors are getting in professionally managed accounts, we'd have a revolution on our hands. Sounds kind of Foolish, doesn't it? (c) Copyright 1997, The Motley Fool. All rights reserved. This material is for personal use only. Republication and redissemination, including posting to news groups, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of The Motley Fool.	The Current BTD 10 1. AT&T <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE:T)") else Response.Write("(NYSE:T)") end if %> 2. *International Paper <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE:IP)") else Response.Write("(NYSE:IP)") end if %> 3. *Goodyear <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE:GT)") else Response.Write("(NYSE:GT)") end if %> 4. *General Motors <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE:GM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE:GM)") end if %> 5. *Chevron <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE:CHV)") else Response.Write("(NYSE:CHV)") end if %> 6. Minnesota Mining <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE:MMM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE:MMM)") end if %> 7. Exxon <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE:XON)") else Response.Write("(NYSE:XON)") end if %> 8. Texaco <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE:TX)") else Response.Write("(NYSE:TX)") end if %> 9. J.P. Morgan <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE:JPM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE:JPM)") end if %> 10. Philip Morris <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE:MO)") else Response.Write("(NYSE:MO)") end if %> ***NOTE: FOOLISH FOUR STOCKS ARE PRECEDED BY AN ASTERISK AND ARE ITALICISED Last Update: 02/05/97
Today's Dow Numbers Stock Change Last -------------------- T - 1/8 38.25 GM + 3/8 56.75 CHV + 1/2 65.75 MMM + 1/2 84.38 Day Month Year History FOOL-4 +0.30% -1.99% -2.47% 26.10% DJIA +1.25% 0.66% 6.35% 34.02% S&P 500 +1.21% 0.43% 6.59% 28.19% NASDAQ +0.84% -1.60% 5.16% 29.04% Rec'd # Security In At Now Change 1/2/96 155 3M 64.50 84.38 30.81% 1/2/96 198 Chevron 52.38 65.75 25.54% 1/2/97 231 Gen. Motor 55.75 56.75 1.79% 1/2/97 618 AT&T 41.75 38.25 -8.38% Rec'd # Security In At Value Change 1/2/96 155 3M 9998.09 13078.13 $3080.04 1/2/96 198 Chevron 10370.25 13018.50 $2648.25 1/2/97 231 Gen. Motor 12878.25 13109.25 $231.00 1/2/97 618 AT&T 25801.50 23638.50 -$2163.00 CASH $207.10 TOTAL $63051.48

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