It was 2006 when I made my first investment, prior to that I was a poor college student with a checking account and a savings account that yielded 0.22%; after that I dropped out of school, in an attempt to make money. It took me several jobs and more hours than I really wanted to, but I did it. My first thousand dollars I could put away.
I called a financial planner at Smith Barney and gave him my thousand dollars, and he invested that money (October 2006) through my IRA in a mutual fund--Franklin Templeton C shares. I had my doubts though.
Since that time, I have not made another contribution to that IRA. Why?
Even through the end of 2007 while the major Indexes were still solid and the Dow flirted with 14,000. My initial portfolio never exceeded much more than a 1,000 dollars, my initial investment.
But, problem number one, they seem to think that charging custodial fees of 4% seems reasonable. That and the Bear Market of 2008.
My portfolio as of 7/18/2008, I owned
FFACX 74.637 for a grand total market value of 837.42!
After almost two years, this is a -13.58% Return on my Investment. Less than Stellar. This doesn't seem to be the way to build wealth. Had I left it in my .22% Savings account, I would have had an account balance close to 1044.
But as my cousin said, "when you go this route you pay people to loose money or just make marginal gains."
Posts
