Investing 102

[68Cuda]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

It's a HUGE - make that GIANT - mistake to invest money is the stock of the company you work for... essentially ending up with "all of your eggs in one basket". Ask the folks at WorldCom... or PG&E...or Chrysler... or Conseco... or Enron... or Washington Mutual...


When I say to invest in companies you understand and know... I'm talking about if you shop at Home Depot or Lowe's... or you love your Ford... or use AT&T or Verizon.

Yes, I tell guys at work that all the time! I participate in the Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP) which allows you to purchase company stock at a 15% discount quarterly through payroll deduction for up to 10% of your base salary. Each offering I sell as soon as I get it. I work with a guy who was a multi-millionaire on paper before the double whammy of the "dot-com" bust and 9/11. He had his entire savings in company stock and had a large number of options in the 40 dollar range when the stock crested 90 and was headed toward 100. He held on to it all because "everyone" knew it was going to keep going up. Now he is delaying his retirement to try to scratch enough together to be comfortable. The stock did not climb back above 40 until recently and by then most of his big options had expired. In the past ten years the company has not been as generous with the options because the tax laws changed regarding them and they are no longer as attractive for the companies to use as incentive.

I do not work for INTC, but I know the business quite well and we all share the same vendors. Since the business is quite volatile I also have ex-coworkers and people who were my customers when I was a designer at almost every manufacturer in the US. The industry is relatively small. When a company is hiring I will almost always get a call from a headhunter trying to get me or at least give them a lead on someone who needs the job.