You might have read last month on
Newsmax Finance about Ronald Read, a Vermont gas station attendant and janitor, who died last June at the age of 92 with an $8 million fortune.
A combination of frugality and wise investing helped propel him to that position. And
The Wall Street Journal offers more insight as to his investments.
"When he died, Mr. Read left behind a 5-inch-thick stack of stock certificates in a safe-deposit box," according to the paper. "The shares represented the bulk of his estate, and his executor and Wells Fargo still are working to determine their exact worth."
When he died, Read held at least 95 stocks, many of which he owned for years, in some cases decades. The sectors include railroads, utilities, banks, healthcare, telecommunications and consumer products.
He liked dividend stocks and reinvested dividends in more stock.
The companies he held included Procter & Gamble, JPMorgan Chase, General Electric, Dow Chemical, J.M. Smucker, CVS Health and Johnson & Johnson.
"Investing is so complicated," Sightings notes.
"How do I make the time? No time? No expertise? No problem. Invest in stock and bond index funds. They usually do better than managed funds. Many financial institutions offer both mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that index stocks and bonds."
You might not get fabulously rich from these funds, but you will enjoy the same returns as the overall market, with less risk than if you buy individual stocks and bonds.
And there's an added bonus. "If you own an index fund, chances are you are diversified," Sightings explains.
To be sure, if you have a 401(k) plan, he warns against investing too heavily in your own company's stock. That's because you don't want to be excessively dependent on your company.
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