One Stock [Purchase one share for grandchild]

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captcanada
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One Stock [Purchase one share for grandchild]

Post by captcanada »

If you were to buy one share of a stock for your grandchild, what would your select?
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InvestorNewb
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Re: One Stock

Post by InvestorNewb »

My Portfolio: VTI [US], VXUS [Int'l], VNQ [REIT], VCN [Canada] (largest to smallest)
harikaried
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Re: One Stock

Post by harikaried »

For some context on the VT recommendation, it tracks FTSE Global All Cap Index: "around 7400 large, mid and small cap companies in 47 developed and emerging markets worldwide, including the USA."
labguru7628
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Re: One Stock

Post by labguru7628 »

Coca-Cola after a 10-15% market correction.

Not too many bullet proof stocks out there, but this is one of them. Probably the best brand in all the world and they sell syrup.
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Ged
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Re: One Stock

Post by Ged »

labguru7628
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Re: One Stock

Post by labguru7628 »

Ged wrote:
+1

Picking VT is cheating when it comes to the spirit of this thread. If I had to pick one ETF, yeah, you can't go wrong owning the entire world equity index
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cfs
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Re: One Stock

Post by cfs »

Leaders, good morning/afternoon/evening

Thanks for asking. Because the question was about a single stock (no ETF, no CEF, not bond, no mutual fund or any other type of investment), here is my pick: General Electric, stock symbol GE, buy it and hold it forever--or until the lights go off for good.

Thanks for reading.
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Ged
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Re: One Stock

Post by Ged »

cfs wrote:
no ETF
The OP didn't say any such thing. :P
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cfs
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Re: One Stock

Post by cfs »

Ged wrote:
cfs wrote:
no ETF
The OP didn't say any such thing. :P
You are correct . . . No changes. My pick is General Electric, buy and hold forever or until lights out for good. Thanks for reading.
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bogleblitz
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Re: One Stock

Post by bogleblitz »

GOOG google
Grt2bOutdoors
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Re: One Stock

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

ExxonMobil
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ASUGrad
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Re: One Stock

Post by ASUGrad »

Mcdonalds or Disney. I don't like it. But your grandchild likes it which improves the odds of them actually caring. And it is unlikely to go to 0 so it will still be there when they are old enough to understand it.

That life lesson is likely worth more in the grand scheme of things than GOOG(which I do love) or any other company is going to appreciate.
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Kenkat
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Re: One Stock

Post by Kenkat »

I will second Google
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Wildebeest
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Re: One Stock

Post by Wildebeest »

One share of Berkshire. No dividends and it looks that Warren Buffett is going to outlive us all.
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stilts1007
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Re: One Stock [Purchase one share for grandchild]

Post by stilts1007 »

It would be interesting to go back in time 20 years and post this question to Bogleheads readers. How many would pick the same stocks then as they would today?

Then again, one could argue that without google, how would anyone find Bogleheads?
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rob
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Re: One Stock [Purchase one share for grandchild]

Post by rob »

I would do something like build a bear that has a nice certificate - get the share issued on physical paper and frame it for the kid. If I recall.... there are websites that you can buy a physical share from.
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Re: One Stock [Purchase one share for grandchild]

Post by pkcrafter »

Wrong question. A single stock, I don't care which one it might be, carries specific stock risk, so a stock ETF or fund is a much better choice.

Paul
When times are good, investors tend to forget about risk and focus on opportunity. When times are bad, investors tend to forget about opportunity and focus on risk.
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Re: One Stock [Purchase one share for grandchild]

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

stilts1007 wrote:It would be interesting to go back in time 20 years and post this question to Bogleheads readers. How many would pick the same stocks then as they would today?

Then again, one could argue that without google, how would anyone find Bogleheads?
I would - ExxonMobil - 1 share at the current price of roughly $100 - let's call it $100 invested approximately 20 years ago is now worth $629.23 = 6.23 shares, a return of 529.23 percent - not too shabby, given the so-called "lost decade".
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livesoft
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Re: One Stock [Purchase one share for grandchild]

Post by livesoft »

I just had this discussion with my kids at dinner tonight. They got a "Dad lecture".

My son started an economics class today. I asked if they were going to learn about the stock market and then went on to say, "Don't invest in individual stocks and if the teacher tells you to, then tell them that I would be happy to come talk in the class." My son answered, "Oh, yeah, I will tell them all about Spartan Trust." Just before dinner, I had helped my daughter submit an order for index funds today in her Roth IRA.

I think purchasing one share of an individual company just says the wrong thing about investing at an impressionable age from a person the child should respect. Just imagine if an index ETF was purchased such as VT what a strong message that would eventually send and what a great lesson it would be. While a young person would not completely understand it now, one day they would probably ask, "What was the old fart doing when they bought this one share for me? Why is it an index fund? What's an index fund?"
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nisiprius
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Re: One Stock [Purchase one share for grandchild]

Post by nisiprius »

I don't know if it still exists... yep, oneshare.com ... which for a truly outrageous price will get you a framed stock certificate for one share of stock from a limited choice of companies. Back in April 2008, how's that for timing, I bought one for a granddaughter. The share of stock cost $53. After the frame price, the transfer fee, and the shipping, it was $112.

The company I picked for her was Target, for a couple of reasons. She was 11 and starting to get into retail shopping and I thought it was a company she could relate to. And I wanted a stock certificate that looked like a "real" stock certificate; Disney's, with Disney characters printed in color, looked all wrong. I wanted the real stock certificate ambience... lightly draped windswept attractive women, factories with sawtooth clerestory roofs and big smokestacks--anyone remember during the sixties, when all the stock certificates that had formerly featured smoking smokestacks were revised to remove the smoke... Target filled the bill.

I also bought her a "$100" series EE bond and a $50 series I bond at the same time. Roughly $50 for each.

She has displayed ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER in any of them. And apparently I created a hassle for her folks, who have to declare the dividends on her income tax every year. I don't know if they get wee dividend checks and a glossy annual report.

Maybe they had the good sense to sell it secretly and not tell me.
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dodecahedron
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Re: One Stock [Purchase one share for grandchild]

Post by dodecahedron »

My grandmother bought me one share of Brunswick Corporation in the mid 1960s--as I recall, it cost less than $10. Among other things, they made bowling alley equipment so her stockbroker thought it would interest me. Normally, I imagine the oddlot commissions on such a thing would have been prohibitive, so I certainly hope her broker found a way to make the transaction fees (mostly?) complimentary in exchange for all the other business she gave them.

I wasn't much of a bowler, but I was intrigued by being able to follow the vicissitudes of the stock in the daily newspaper and the whole notion that I owned a small share of a company that made things I could understand did come vividly alive for me. I also liked the stock certificate which had a sort of goddess figure holding a sphere (which I imagined to be a bowling ball.)

I did get tiny dividend checks--they were always less than the amount of the postage it cost to send them (e.g., 3 cent checks when first class postage was 4 cents, etc.) I don't think the bank where I had a small passbook savings account was too thrilled about me depositing them, so I eventually signed up for the dividend reinvestment plan. Also the stock split a few times. And they did send me a glossy annual report, which I read religiously.

When I was young, I didn't have enough income to trigger a tax filing requirement. In later life, I did have enough other income to be required to file but that didn't happen until after I was old enough to take responsibility for preparing and filing the return myself. It wasn't rocket science though I admit I didn't bother to track the increased basis associated with all the quarterly DRIPs.

That stock was not an entry level drug that induced me to invest in other stocks down the road. When I got older and had enough income/savings to think about serious investments, I had learned enough about modern portfolio theory and efficient markets to know such things were a foolish waste of my time.

I held onto those shares for years, partly for sentimental reasons and partly because of the nuisance and cost of an odd lot transaction. I even made an overhead projector slide of one of the stock certificates to use as a teaching aid when I was teaching a finance class.

Eventually, Brunswick got tired of dealing with tiny shareholders like me and sent me an offer to buy all my shares, including the fractional ones, at the market price with no transactions cost. I said sure. I think I got about $90. It had served its purpose and generated many fond memories. I am really not sure I would have been nearly as intrigued by an ETF.
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CABob
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Re: One Stock [Purchase one share for grandchild]

Post by CABob »

I asked your grandchild and he suggested BRK/A.
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Re: One Stock [Purchase one share for grandchild]

Post by Kielke »

stilts1007 wrote:It would be interesting to go back in time 20 years and post this question to Bogleheads readers. How many would pick the same stocks then as they would today?

Then again, one could argue that without google, how would anyone find Bogleheads?
I would be rather interested in the prophetic abilities of anyone that suggested you buy "Google" 20 years ago! :sharebeer :mrgreen:
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Re: One Stock [Purchase one share for grandchild]

Post by sscritic »

Where was she born (you didn't give the sex, so I get to make one up. When I talk about my granddaughters, I know what they are, so I use the term granddaughter)?

My daughter was born in Pittsburgh, so I bought her Pittsburgh Plate Glass (well, sort of, it was already PPG Industries by then) and Westinghouse (headquartered in the Westinghouse building on the Point).

[OT comments removed by admin LadyGeek.]
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