Here's my take from a noob that never bought a stock before in his life. I heard all the back and forth about shopify in the news and it peaked my interest. Only stock I ever owned was whatever was in my 401k. Never been interested in the market before and preferred to put most of my savings into rental properties. I'm not a rich guy, I make about 104K a year with my wife but we have no debt. I did a little research into Shopify before making the decision to buy.
Many people had varying opinions both pro and con about the company but mostly pro. I won't get into specifics or pretend to understand the markets like you guys/gals do. I admit I don't know jack about buying stock. What I do know as a common sense country boy is that e-commerce is and has been the future for a while now. Brick and mortar stores are hurting, just look at how many have closed in the last 10 years and how many are in trouble right now. Iconic brands that were around for decades and in some instances for 100 years were put out of business by the internet and people ordering more online. Radio Shack, Woolworth's, Montgomery Ward, Kmart, Borders Books, Tower Records, Circuit City, Sports Authority, Gander Mountain, Service Merchandise and many more. Poor old Toys R Us even recently filed for bankruptcy.
My point is that the next generation of kids to be born will live in an 80% online world and their kids will grow up in a 92% online world. Brick and mortar stores are fading fast and more people than ever before prefer to shop online. My wife and I buy 90% of all Christmas, Birthday and other gifts online now and have them shipped to the person or to our home. We have begun buying groceries online as have many of our friends and family. I buy about 50% of my clothing online now as does my wife. I purchase most everyday items like batteries, shaving cream, dog food, laundry detergent, carpet cleaner, etc. from online retailers.
We have begun to automate our home with products like the Amazon Echo which can now turn my lights and ceiling fans off with a command as well as control my thermostat and other things. I buy books online and read them on a tablet instead of buying paperbacks. My wife looked online and hired a maid to clean the house once a week. We visit brick and mortar stores less and less as the years go by. It's sad but at the same time it frees up our lives to spend more time traveling on the weekends or spending time home in the evenings together instead of battling the crowds at Walmart, Kroger or Bestbuy.
Shopify enables people to sell online and more and more business owners will want that web presence as less and less of us shop in their hometown stores or we stop buying goods face to face. Millions of businesses still don't sell online but thousands of them every day are signing up to do so. Tons of people also start new businesses every day out of their home. Shopify has many more customers to acquire over the next 10 years and they will grow in my opinion to be a HUGE or even MEGA company. I'm not an expert in anything really. I just see things in black and white and I think a company like this is the wave of the future from where this backwoods Louisiana country boy sits. They might not grow as fast or along the same path as these Wall street people predict but if they just stay steady and true to their customers then they will grow bigger and bigger as more of us look to the internet for our shopping. Their platform seems easy and uncomplicated to use even for simple people like myself.
I put in $38,000 initially which I know ain't a lot compared to some of you guys who have hundred thousand dollar portfolio's or maybe even millions in investments. To me and my wife it's a lot of money, a heck of a lot of money. We don't need it right now though and I bought SHOP for the long term. I figure I'm in my low 40's right now and I'd like to retire in my 50's. I think in the next 10 years my money in SHOP will double or who knows maybe even triple. I know nothing is a sure thing in life but compared to what my bank pays in interest I figured it was my best bet to turn that little bit of savings into something more one day. We are lucky to have money left over at the end of each month so we plan to stick another $1000 a month into SHOP for the next couple of years.
So many people panic over each little dip or jump that SHOP makes. Trying to speculate on what will happen or if their money is safe. Should they sell now or wait it out, begging someone to tell them what to do or give them some advice that will make them feel better about their investment and money in this company. If you want advice from this dummy then I say to buy as much as you can and just walk away from it for a few years. Unless your one of those day traders who make the bulk of their living from the small jumps and quick sells then don't try to second guess the stock. It's gonna have a lot of ups and downs as the media buzz over this thing is tremendous. In the end though I believe it will grow at a steady pace and continue to pick up new customers, generate different revenue streams and partnerships as time goes on.
Maybe we're fools, but all of life is a gamble and tomorrow's are never promised to anyone. When I die they can't say I didn't try to make a better life. Might of made a lot of mistakes but I get up each and every day and I try, that's all you can do. If we lost it all tomorrow I'd get right back up and start over. Whatever you do I wish you luck but I made my decision and rain or shine I'm locked in for the long haul. I'm committed to about 10 years so maybe I'll have enough in there one day to buy a little condo down in Florida in my old age or hopefully at the least enough for a good down payment.
