Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

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S17C
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Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by S17C »

Say that you buy & hold mutual funds or index funds with significant holdings in companies such as Toyota, Marriott, AT&T, Johnson & Johnson, Bank of America, Exxon, etc. Do you then purposely give some of your business to those companies (over other companies which are not in your portfolio)? Such as filling up at an ExxonMobil gas station even though it has higher prices than several other quality gas stations or switching to AT&T (cell/phone, internet, cable) even though you're happy with current services at other companies?
Last edited by S17C on Sun Mar 19, 2017 4:16 pm, edited 14 times in total.
livesoft
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by livesoft »

Nope, not at all.
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jhfenton
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by jhfenton »

Nope. My contribution to a company's revenue would make not any appreciable difference to its business. Paying $0.05 more per gallon would cost me $0.80 extra to fill up my car, and I don't expect it would make me an extra penny on the company's stock.

Plus, since I own only index funds, I probably own a bit of everything.
sport
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by sport »

No. All the major companies are already in the indexes. There is no need to show favoritism.
bluebolt
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by bluebolt »

When given a choice between clicking on a paid search ad or an organic search result for the same link, I always click on the paid search ad since I am a Google/Alphabet shareholder. :wink:
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

Nope, why would I do that?
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by charlatan »

I have 140k invested in MO and PM, and I don't smoke!
fmhealth
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by fmhealth »

Given a reasonable choice, I always support the companies that I own stock in.

Be Well,
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Gill
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by Gill »

Before bank credit cards became so common, oil companies sent credit cards to their shareholders. My father owned Texaco stock, had a Texaco credit card and never filled his car anywhere but a Texaco station.
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pennstater2005
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by pennstater2005 »

That thought has never crossed my mind.
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drawpoker
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by drawpoker »

No. It would be far too time-consuming to keep up with a list.

Like if am stopping on the highway for lunch and there is a choice between Appleby's or TGIF - would I remember which one is a holding in which fund?

And, conversely, I do not waste time trying to weed out funds that have holdings in certain companies I absolutely detest and despise. Like Citibank, PEPCO, Verizon, SnakeFarm
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by itstoomuch »

It was the other way around.
We bought stock (Discretionary) in the companies that had products that we prefer. :oops:
Mostly holding cash from sells. Valuations are pretty high in these companies.
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by Dottie57 »

itstoomuch wrote:It was the other way around.
We bought stock (Discretionary) in the companies that had products that we prefer. :oops:
Mostly holding cash from sells. Valuations are pretty high in these companies.

+1. I sold the stock and made a tidy profit.
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Toons
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by Toons »

Yes,,
Walmart
Coke
McDonald's
Microsoft. :happy
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tigerdoc93
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by tigerdoc93 »

I prefer to support the companies I own individual stock shares if possible. But I don't bother trying to remember which companies are in my index fund shares.
Fclevz
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by Fclevz »

I can't help but spend with companies in my investment portfolio because my investment portfolio includes every public company in the world. :sharebeer
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Raymond
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by Raymond »

I inherited Lockheed Martin (LMT) stock several years ago, and if the company would sell me an 8x8 Amphibious Combat Vehicle at a reduced price, say the price of a Honda Accord :P , I would buy one.

Alas, that won't happen. Also, can you imagine the gallons per 100 miles rating on the thing?

Otherwise, I don't adjust my buying preferences.
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StevieG72
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by StevieG72 »

No, the impact would be negligible.

I think more folks do what a previous poster mentioned which is buy stocks of companys that they like.

This practice can really put a drag on your portfolio, I imagine there could be a homerun occasionally.

The average investor will trail the market doing this.
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aj44
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by aj44 »

No, even if you were to patron private companies that aren't publically traded odds are they use components or services of companies that are.
WolfgangPauli
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by WolfgangPauli »

I have a twist to this...

I did consulting for two years and so I bough 100 to 150 shares in any company that was smart enough to hire me. Figured if they were that smart, they would do well in the market (or at least that is what i told myself). Actually, by pure luck, it worked out well. It was about 5 years ago and I bought into:

Unilever
Whirlpool
Conagra
Dow Chemical (Never consulted with them but loved the dividend)
Apple
John Deere

Before you all jump all over me.. I know it is stupid.. kind of like going to the race track. But, it was fun and I made some money!
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Sheepdog
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by Sheepdog »

livesoft wrote:Nope, not at all.
same here
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clown
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by clown »

Some companies that make good/popular products are bad as investments.
Some companies that make bad/inferior products are good as investments.

Both types are included in the broad market indexes. You don't really have a choice as to who is in the index, but you do have a choice as to what you buy. I'm not gonna purposely buy a bad product just because I own a teensy weensy part of the company.
Bfwolf
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by Bfwolf »

Not only do I not think one should show favoritism toward the companies one invests in, I don't think one should show favoritism toward the company one works for unless it is publicly visible and would affect one's perception at work.
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Gixene
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by Gixene »

Yes. I purchase my Trojan rubbers, owned by Church & Dwight Company.
selters
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by selters »

yangtui wrote:No. Why would I do that?
Is your reply the same if you're asked "Do you buy American?" Assuming you're an American, that is.
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triceratop
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by triceratop »

I do. I buy GEICO insurance as a shareholder (1 share of BRKB) of Berkshire Hathaway. But it's really like the reverse: Geico gives me a discount for owning the stock.
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oldcomputerguy
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by oldcomputerguy »

Since I hold VTSAX in my taxable account and FSTVX in my IRA, yes, some of my spending each month goes into companies that happen to be in my portfolio.
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Sidney
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by Sidney »

Never even crosses my mind.
I always wanted to be a procrastinator.
Pigeon
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by Pigeon »

No, and I probably try to actively avoid patronizing many of the companies that end up in some of my funds.
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blaugranamd
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by blaugranamd »

I would estimate 75% of all my expenses go to companies I own. That's just because 25% are not publicly traded. :P
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likegarden
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by likegarden »

I only have US index funds representing all companies, We buy products we like and need.
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jhfenton
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by jhfenton »

selters wrote:
yangtui wrote:No. Why would I do that?
Is your reply the same if you're asked "Do you buy American?" Assuming you're an American, that is.
My reply would be the same. As a consumer, I buy the best product or service at the best price and let market competition take care of itself. (And 50% of my portfolio is international, so it wouldn't matter to my investments anyway.)
keystone
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by keystone »

No. Most of the companies you mention are so large that even if I were to donate my entire net worth to one of them, the stock would not even budge a penny. And even if it did, it wouldn't make sense to do it.
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by DetroitRick »

For most of my portfolios, fund positions, no. Because it wouldn't be practical for me or meaningful for them. For my stock portfolio, yes - for 5 out of 40 positions at the moment. Not for their benefit, but for mine.

For those 5 positions only, my consumer experience led me to research further and ultimately establish those investment positions in the first place. So I make an effort to maintain that "spending contact", along with other more research-oriented efforts of course, as part of my total investor due diligence. And in those cases, it has paid off for me. For all the rest, no, it doesn't make any real difference. In fact, it wouldn't be directly possible for me to even do this for many companies I hold - simply because of the nature of their products (a rocket and missile engine manufacturer comes to mind) or their geographic area (some of my positions, for example, don't sell outside of Asia).
MP173
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by MP173 »

Walgreens - yes
Proctor and Gamble - yes
pharma companies (Pfizer and J&J - out of my control)
McDonalds - yes...for coffee only.
Microsoft - yes
Exxon Mobil - probably as they no doubt are refining off brand gasoline purchased.
Bob Evans - no
Coca Cola - gave up Diet Coke 18 months ago
American Express - nope
Ameriprize - no
Canadian National Railroad - no, but I wave at the trainmen when I am stopped at a crossing.
Harley Davidson - no

Ed
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dratkinson
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by dratkinson »

Yes, can't help it. Why? Because I own everything.
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Longtermgrowth
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by Longtermgrowth »

Maybe if I actually bought a large number of shares in various companies, that I could hold for as long as I wanted, with the exact amount invested in them that I wanted (I wouldn't do this because I'm just not willing to put in the work and worry of maintaining a large amount of money in individual stocks).

If we're talking about a market cap weighted fund like total stock market, there's not enough concentration in one stock for me to think about it.
In other funds, if there are large enough individual positions to start thinking this way, it seems turnover could easily be high (one that comes to mind is HDV (iShares Core High Dividend) - 74% turnover). Why go out of my way to give a top holding business while the fund is not only controlling how much of the individual company I own, but for how long I own it?

I know someone that couldn't stop talking about BP stock back around 2006 and even recently mentioned the juicy dividend. It's trading at about half the amount it was back in 06. They always tried to get me to fill my vehicle up at a BP station :wink:
Loik098
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by Loik098 »

I see a growing tendency for individuals in this "connected" age to somehow think that their own actions have a significant impact on the operations/outcomes of much large entities. Perhaps this is due to an increased emphasis in promoting things like tweets, facebook pages, blogs, online complaints, or whatnot in the media. Don't be fooled. Your (and my) mediocre dollars don't mean a thing.

As Kevin O'Leary likes to say, we're just cochroaches waiting to be crushed.
Last edited by Loik098 on Fri Mar 24, 2017 1:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Tycoon
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by Tycoon »

Nope.
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cheese_breath
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by cheese_breath »

Since all my equity investments are TSM and S&P 500 funds it would be hard not to.
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magazinewriter
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Re: Do you purposely spend with companies in your investment portfolio?

Post by magazinewriter »

Years ago, before I'd ever even heard of Vanguard, I invested in Home Depot stock. It has been very good to me and I still own a lot of it. So I do favor HD over Lowes for many purchases.
TravelforFun
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Re: Do you purposely spend on products/services with companies that are in your investment portfolio?

Post by TravelforFun »

itstoomuch wrote:It was the other way around.
We bought stock (Discretionary) in the companies that had products that we prefer. :oops:
Mostly holding cash from sells. Valuations are pretty high in these companies.
Same here. This is how I got, Apple, Costco, Starbucks, and Southwest Airlines.
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