The Motley Fool
Announces a New Portfolio
by Jeff Fischer
ALEXANDRIA, VA (July 24, 1997) -- The Fool is very proud to announce
that a new Portfolio is launching on Monday, July 28th! You, dear Fool, are
invited to join this historic event from the very beginning.
The first real-money online portfolio of its kind has a goal of building
$500 and an additional $100 per month into $150,000 within twenty years.
The Motley Fool's DRIP Portfolio (yes, we're looking for a better name!)
will launch mere days from now, on Monday -- but don't fret! We will not
make the first stock purchase for at least two weeks, so there's plenty of
time to learn the process of buying stocks directly from companies, without
paying commissions. That's what a Foolish DRIP portfolio does: it buys stocks
in small increments each month, directly from leading public companies, and
side steps brokers completely. You can't get much more Foolish than that!
And the new Portfolio will be even more Foolish than the other Fool portfolios
in one sense: we're going to discuss possible buys in the daily columns well
before we announce the buy. We're going to dissect why we would want to invest
for twenty years in each company that we consider -- or why we might not
want to invest.
The decision-making process will be done in full view, each day, with a daily
recap. Before too long, the portfolio will hold approximately five stocks
and eventually grow to hold eight to ten stocks -- and we'll keep investing
in these each month with regular payments.
Hey, what about your expenses? Will you show them?
Yes! Of course all expenses will be accounted for and deducted from the
portfolio, and all stock returns will be measured against the S&P 500.
(Don't worry, good Fools, we'll show you how to Foolishly track your stocks
against the S&P, even while buying more stock each month through the
direct investment plans.)
If you've wanted to start building a "direct investment" portfolio for yourself
or for your children beginning with as little as $100, now is the perfect
Foolish opportunity! Or if your savings account is growing... well, maybe
you should put that money to work for you in stocks of great companies.
Hey? Aren't you guys worried that the market is too high?
Not at all. With this portfolio, we'll invest regularly each month -- so
when our stocks go down, we'll be buying more. When the stocks are higher,
we'll buy less. In fact, we kind of hope stocks come down for us over the
next few years.
How are you starting the portfolio?
The Fool will be using the services of
The
Moneypaper. By opening an account with
The
Moneypaper, we avoid the hassle of having to buy each initial share
of stock from a broker and having it mailed (and having to pay for that!)
-- and we save money in the process.
The Moneypaper
also offers several additional services for investors that we will discuss.
The new DRIP Portfolio is being launched and run by Jeff Fischer (TMF Jeff)
and Randy Befumo (TMF Templr), who also work on the
Fool Portfolio and
the Fool's Lunchtime
News and Evening
News.
Aside from the Foolishness of watching wealth grow over the years from virtually
nothing, lessons will be learned by all as these two Fools debate in public
which stocks belong in the portfolio. We could even see some brawls! Following
the decisions, Randy and Jeff will break down the businesses invested in
and teach investment valuation methods and a multitude of other such investing
Foolery each business day. Five days a week, that is!
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please send them along
to the Fool!
Fool on! |