Friday, June 12, 1998

Fools Got a Hold on Me
by Mark Stolz ([email protected])

Is this an amazing country or what? Not more than a year ago, I was floundering around, picking stocks by guess or by golly, touting myself as a mutual fund expert (is there such a thing?), and generally making a mess of our family investments.

Then two significant things happened. 1. I happened to stumble across the Motley Fool website, and things haven't been the same since. 2. My wife struggled through our Schedule D on our taxes this year and said, "This has to stop."

Instead of chasing the "hot" mutual fund, or thinking about dumping stocks to collect a short-term "profit," I finally got the big picture in focus. Now stocks like Cisco, America Online, Microsoft, and Johnson & Johnson lurk in my portfolio. I now get DRiP mail that has the words Intel, Coca Cola, and General Electric on it.

And why?? Because a couple of brothers had an idea about smartening up saps like me, and created what I'm sure will go down in history as one of the most enlightening and educational websites ever. And then for good measure, just to show it's not bragging if you back it up, proceeded to put out some of the best personal investment books I've ever read (sorry Mr. Lynch).

Now their website is a daily read for me, while my investing in mutual funds has come to a standstill. My wife and I are in the process of converting our IRAs to new Roth IRAs to take advantage of Uncle Sam's infinite kindness. And while we still own a substantial amount of mutual funds, I know now that any laggards will be thrown out like yesterday's garbage and replaced with stocks that my wife and I can live with for a good long time.

Do I want to do that right away? That's just the point. Now I know enough (I think) to make our own financial decisions, not some high-brow, fancy-pants, fund manager, who cares a lot more about his year-end performance bonus than our family nest egg. Am I going to make all the right calls? Nope. Are all these decisions going to work out immediately? Maybe. Are we going to be better off in the long run, with more of our hard-earned money staying with us instead of going to taxes or management fees? Yep. Like I said, is this a great country or what? You've gotta like being a Fool.

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