Fool.com: A Foolish Future (Fribble) July 31, 1998

Friday, July 31, 1998

A Foolish Future
by Steven Weinstein
([email protected])

It has now been almost a full year of Foolishness for me. I went the full nine yards, reading The Motley Fool Investment Guide, then rereading parts, bringing it with me to the computer lab at Penn State (go Nittany Lions) where I would peruse the numerous financial sites online. I spent months, it seemed, with my eyes affixed to the computer screen, trying to nail down the equities that I wanted to place my dear savings into (until my girlfriend started to wonder whether or not I still existed). This was exciting, something that could help me to financial security, but it was, and has become, much more than that.

Here I am, recently graduated from college, not sure what I would like to do, trying to tread down that narrow road, with so many strings attached it feels like I'm a puppet. But I've finally cut all but three which seem apropos in attempting to choose a career (I will take suggestions from anyone out in Fool land). The first two I would look at as fairly noble, one being that I would like to help the world just a little (or maybe quite a bit) and the second that I want to do something that's going to challenge me and thus keep me thinking (and interested). The third, though, of course is the ever-practical issue of money needs. This is where Foolishness comes into play. I believe that Foolishness is the best way for most to an early retirement, but for me, I have a different plan.

Foolishness is the best way to have Fool, I mean full, control over my employment. Without money worries, and maybe a little extra on the side, I can open a business, travel the world, start a non-profit organization, and spend that incredibly important quality time with my family-to-be. It sounds in some ways like a dream, or maybe one of those really convincing infomercials ("The Motley Fool, the way to wealth"), but it all can be realistic with patience, a hard work ethic, and time (for once one could say that time is our friend). With my handy dandy calculator, I can figure it all out, noting that with proper saving and investment, without building up credit card debt and the like, with being a little more frugal than I'd like to be when I am just starting out in the Real World, I can get a good paying job for a while and then simply move on to the rest of my worry-free (at least where money is concerned) life. In the context of life expectancies these days, it really shouldn't take an incredibly long time to develop a nest egg.

I spent enough time and energy into learning organic chemistry, the majority of which I will never recall again. I can certainly find time to research companies, take a look at their products, and try to understand their business. And this is working. I spent months zeroing in on the investments that would become my portfolio and while it might be considered coincidental, the stocks that have gone up for me are the ones where I really understand the company and possibly even use their wares. I understand certain industries better than others and I have tried to avoid equities which, while they might be the hot stock of the week, I have no right putting my money into because I can't fathom how their businesses work. My money has become an active ingredient in creating financial security, easily outpacing the lackluster growth of the bonds that the majority of the money was in before. While in the short term the market is not consistent, the long term is where I have set my sights. And if it can continue like it has in the past, I might just be able to get that freedom a little earlier than I thought.