Way back when I was a young man, I inquired to my parents as to what a mutual fund was. My dad replied something to the effect of, “Cam, they are a lot less riskier than stocks, but they are stocks”. Interesting, I thought. Was there such thing as a stock that had less risk that other stocks. Shortly after that conversation, my parents took me to see a financial advisor to discuss the world of mutual funds. The man in the suit explained to me that a mutual fund is a wallet full of different stocks all bundeled into one stock or share and thus spreading the risk out over various industries. When I got home, I immediately hopped on the computer and did some research.

Less than a week later, I took all $76 of my allowance and told my mom I wanted to buy a mutual fund. The one I chose is no longer trading but it was called the Stien Rowe Young Investors Mutual Fund, ticket SYRIX. Wow, I can’t believe I remember that. The share price was about $12 and the financial advisor approved. Over the next 2 years, the fund had an amazing growth of around 19% and I was estatic. However, that wasn’t what got me so excited.

I received my first investor prospecus and I was amazed at the stocks involved. Genentech, Microsoft, News Corp, and IBM were some of the stocks that made up this fund. Once the dividends began to re-invest, I was hooked on the stock market and mutual funds specifically.

Some years later, I sat down with an advisor at Wachovia and was instructed to start my Roth IRA at 16 years of age. He told me to pick a few stocks and he would look them up in his database and see which mutual funds had those stocks in their portfolio. I immediately picked Disney, Microsoft, and Genentech since they made a nice return on investment in the previous fund. Now as I sit here in college as an Economics Major, my portfolio is now diversified with worldwide stocks including companies that own aiports in Europe and Central-South America as well as a contruction company based out of Hong Kong. Amazing how Globalization can change a man’s portfolio. I will continue to find strengths in worldwide sectors and invest, specifically China.

Anyone invest in Global stocks?

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Filed under: Investments