The Daily Dow
Thursday, August 14, 1997
by Robert Sheard

LEXINGTON, KY. (August 14, 1997) -- Not being much of a philosopher, I tend to borrow from great minds whenever possible. And being in a bit of a philosophic mood today (some would call it brain dead), I'm going to steal from... err... refer to one such great mind today.

Two primary tenets of Foolishness are to take advantage of compounding and consider all opportunity costs when determining what investment vehicles to use. Here, then, is advice from Benjamin Franklin on the topics, from his 1736 "Necessary Hints to Those that would be Rich":

"The use of money is all the advantage there is in having money.

For six pounds a year you may have the use of one hundred pounds, provided you are a man of known prudence and honesty.

He that spends a groat a day idly, spends idly above six pounds a year, which is the price for the use of one hundred pounds.

He that wastes idly a groat's worth of his time per day, one day with another, wastes the privilege of using one hundred pounds each day.

He that idly loses five shillings' worth of time, loses five shillings, and might as prudently throw five shillings into the sea.

He that loses five shillings, not only loses that sum, but all the advantage that might be made by turning it in dealing, which, by the time that a young man becomes old, will amount to a considerable sum of money."

Ben would have looked pretty spiffy in a belled-cap. Fool on!

(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. ________________________________

Stock  Change   Last
--------------------
T    +   1/8   39.75
GM   ---       61.00
CHV  -   7/16  78.56
MMM  +   7/8   94.75

           Day   Month    Year
        FOOL-4   +0.18%   2.36%   8.41%
        DJIA     +0.17%  -3.41%  23.17%
        S&P 500  +0.30%  -3.10%  24.84%
        NASDAQ   +0.21%  -0.45%  22.90%

    Rec'd   #  Security     In At       Now    Change
   1/2/97  153 Chevron       65.00     78.56    20.87%
   1/2/97  120 3M            83.00     94.75    14.16%
   1/2/97  179 Gen. Motor    55.75     61.00     9.42%
   1/2/97  479 AT&T          41.75     39.75    -4.79%


    Rec'd   #  Security     In At     Value    Change
   1/2/97  153 Chevron     9945.00  12020.06  $2075.06
   1/2/97  120 3M          9960.00  11370.00  $1410.00
   1/2/97  179 Gen. Motor  9979.25  10919.00   $939.75
   1/2/97  479 AT&T       19998.25  19040.25  -$958.00


                             CASH    $857.10
                            TOTAL  $54206.41