DD Support Board and Research Team

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When I started investing much longer ago, and at age 19, my initiation went perfectly. I lost money, and then lost some more. It was what old timers may recall as a "Bear Market." We had those then. Braniff Airlines didn't work for me and neither did Gulf & Western Industries. I was losing DOZENS of dollars and I hated that.

The respected books I got from the library were disheartening. They talked about "becoming prosperous" over decades via blue chips like GM and AT&T, and maybe office machine makers like NCR, Burroughs and, yes, IBM.

Perhaps I muttered the future call of the slobbering penny player: "What fun is that!" I wanted results and fast, But I was able to learn.

In those days investors would visit a brokers office and watch a stock board streaming quotes. Quickly I learned that "X" meant "Steel" which no one called U.S. Steel. T was Telephone, AT&T. Z was Woolworths. You had to learn the code first.

There was little BS. I arrived at the brokers on foot or by bus. Some arrived by Cadillac. The guys with Cadillacs had real money. Everyone at the brokers knew who they were and where they lived.

A 90-year old guy who came by chauffeur sometimes passed around his monthly statements that went on for pages and totaled $3 million... 600 shares of Polaroid; 500 shares of General Mills; 1200 shares of Xerox; 1000 shares of IBM. No pennies; 100% blue chips. No BS!

I learned investing from old millionaires like that, and by reading. Eventually, slowly, the money came.