Have You Ever Invested A Large Lump Sum In One Stock?

[james.hendrickson]

Folks I've been mulling over my investing strategy for the past ten years or so. Back in 2010 I put about $30,000 into Pfizer (PFE), factoring in the dividends, I did okay. This has got me thinking:

Did you ever buy a large amount of one stock (in comparison to your net worth)?

Did the approach work for you?

[corn18]

Negative, Unless you count my RSU's, but I don't think that's what you are asking. And I sell them the instant they vest.

[bjl584]

I've never gone into any individual stock that represented more than 1% or so of my overall portfolio. I don't want a significant portion of my wealth tied up in any one security

[TexasHusker]

So I've got a funny story.

Back in the fall of 1999 when the NASDAQ was going parabolic, a friend of mine told me to buy IDC. Being young and dumb, I did. I think I paid right around $5-6 per share and I bought about $10K worth if I recall correct.

Well, a few days later it went to soaring and I asked my friend what he thought, and he said "IDC isn't soaring, you're looking at the wrong ticker."

Well as it turned out, I had mistakenly bought IDCC and I didn't even know what I bought! Yet here it was blasting right through $20 in a week two! Then $25, $30, $40, $50, $60, $70, then past $75 I believe! All in a few weeks!

Well, it started crashing and I *think* I sold out for around $54 IIRC, so I made like $100K on that in a month.

I'm probably a little off on the actual numbers because that's been 18 years. But I remember it like yesterday as it was when my son was born and my wife was p.o.'d because I was glued to the computer screen watching it go up.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

BTDT no more. I don't have time to watch tv, reports, and read stuff. When I didn't have kids DH and I would stick money into individual stocks and sometimes we'd challenge each other to see who could make more in the short amount of time. I recall him buying nintendo before the Wii came out and it was hard to buy japanese stock. We put in around $10k? And made out like bandits. I made 8x on $1000 i believe on United after 9/11. But seriously it takes way to much time when you are trying work and watch stocks.

[Singuy]

Yes.

Just did the calculation and I have a little bit over 250k in AMD stocks. A distance second would be SHOP at 28k. Also have 26k in BZUN, 18k in MTCH, and 16k in Amazon.

I believe I have more AMD than my 401k as of today.

Did AMD work out? No clue, I'll let you know by 2021 which is my selling point.

[tripods68]

I bought Netflix, cost about 10K...sold it a year later with a 4K realized gain taxable. I should not have sold it looking back.

[james.hendrickson]

Yes.

Just did the calculation and I have a little bit over 250k in AMD stocks. A distance second would be SHOP at 28k. Also have 26k in BZUN, 18k in MTCH, and 16k in Amazon.

I believe I have more AMD than my 401k as of today.

Did AMD work out? No clue, I'll let you know by 2021 which is my selling point.

Wow Singuy - did you purchase your AMD in one buy or have you been accumulating it over time?

[Singuy]

Wow Singuy - did you purchase your AMD in one buy or have you been accumulating it over time?

Accumulated over the past 8 months. Amd was trading side ways and gave me plenty of chances to average down. I am fairly positive that this stock will be a multi bagger by 2021 due to its growth and Intel's manufacturing woes. So confident that I am quarter of a mil in.

[Fishindude77]

Yep.
I own approx. $375,000 worth of a bank that is publicly traded and pays a dividend of about 4% based on today's value per share. Considering I've been buying this stock for quite some time and made initial buys at about 2/3 today's value, I'm probably getting more like a 6% avg. return. They also paid a one time dividend last year that was about 4X normal, due to exceptional financial performance.

This has been a good long term deal, will probably buy some more.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

NYCB fishinguy? I am curious because I'm debating buying a dividend paying stock.

[surveysboy]

My 10,000 Investment Into Verizon Stock 2009

Hey James great question,

I invested 10,000 in Verizon stock (VZ) about 9 years ago when the stock market was in it's depression. Stocks were low and they had Verizon Fios going. I figured this new technology was not going anywhere soon, the stock market had no choice but to go up so I invested half of my net worth into one stock.

I know this was frowned upon however I took a chance anyway.

I used a trading platform that was free to invest as long as you had a certain amount inside the account. I forgot the online platform I do apologize because it was so long ago. I do recall it had a Z in the name. I tried to Google the name but I could not find the company. It may not be in business anymore.

I let the stock sit for three years and long story short I made nice dividend returns and the stock tripled. This was my first time trading and I really messed up on my taxes after closing the account.

I recall a 10% fee or something along those lines after cashing out that I had to pay in regards to the return. I was under the impression this had to do with taxes.

All I know is after taxes, penalties and fees, I only made about $6,000 profit from a 200% gain. Even though the time it took to place the investment was minimal, I learned the time to learn the taxes and withdrawal process was a big headache. By the time I figured some of the policies out it was too late.

I realized I should have went with a broker instead of trying to do it myself. I had no idea I would make so much money in such little time.

[Fishindude77]

NYCB fishinguy? I am curious because I'm debating buying a dividend paying stock.

No. It's a smaller institution. Would rather not share the name on an internet forum.

[TexasHusker]

I really don't see a problem tying up a chunk of your portfolio in a single stock or two...if you are highly knowledgeable about the industry and have thoroughly researched the company. If you know what you're doing, you could be rewarded with returns exponentially higher than the averages.

It's sort of like taking out $200K of your stash and buying your own business.

I spent my life's savings on some cabins and three franchise locations - I would classify that as putting a bulk (all ) of ones loot in one stock.

On the other hand, you could lose your proverbial shirt. And even though a chunk of your stash is in a single stock, you don't manage the co.

All about risk, reward, and comfort!

[disneysteve]

I spent my life's savings on some cabins and three franchise locations - I would classify that as putting a bulk (all ) of ones loot in one stock.

I don't think that's the same at all. First, you were investing in two entirely different businesses: vacation rentals and hair salons. Second, you weren't just passively buying into an existing business as a shareholder with no input or control. You were running the show.

Still a risky move but a very different kind of risk than if you had taken that same money and bought shares of a single publicly traded company.