My declining fortunes

[susandennis]

About 3 years ago Krispy Kreme donuts went public. I've loved those suckers all my life so I wanted a piece of the action. My financial advisor - the wonderful old Republican that he is - said NO WAY! First of all, you never ever buy stock until it's been on the market 90 days unless you get in on the IPO. And second of all, you want to buy stock in donuts?????

So I said, ok.

Then I went to Ameritrade and opened up an account. I sent them $2,000. I bought 15 shares of Krispy Kreme (you can just call me the last of the big spenders), and 15 shares of this and 15 shares of that and so forth until I had spent my $2,000. Over the next year, I did not touch the KK. It split and split again. I fiddled with the other - sold some, bought others - until my entire holdings look like this:

9 shares of Federated Stores
34 shares of TIVO
16 shares of Webvan (now defunct)
60 shares of Krispy Kreme

And, at one point it hit over $3,000. Then it hovered arout $2,500 for a while going up a hundred and down a hundred. Today, it sunk to it's lowest yet, $2,154. Sigh. At least I'm not down below $2,000... yet.

Comments

[mindme.livejournal.com]

You've made money :) Today you're thankful if you've only lost 40% of your original investment.

[theryn.livejournal.com]

I bet almost all of your value is in those donuts now, huh? There is nothing like an old standard. I predict that TIVO stock will be worth something one of these days. You'll just have to wait for it. I've actually seen a few TIVO references in the non-technology or TV related media lately.

[susandennis]

Oh yeah... I should have included the $$

9 shares of Federated today is $229.14
34 shares of TIVO is today $170.00
16 shares of Webvan is today $0000.00
and 60 shaes of KK is $1,755.00

I'm with you on the TIVO thing. Besides the financial investment my emotional investment in them is way way too strong!

[suifu.livejournal.com]

I remember when it was fun to watch the stock market. Not so much fun anymore.

[edbook.livejournal.com]

I once bought 1200 shares of some chocolate company because it was recommended... they sent me a sample and I should have sold immediately based on the taste.... I love chocolate... but hated this one... I didn't sell because I was't going to do business based on taste... I should have because they went bust... not the up bust but the down bust... and I got back $12 for all those shares... it literally became a penny stock... I don't even remember what the name of the company was...

Peace

[susandennis]

See and they always tell you that the right way to do it is the way you did it. But, I have been very lucky never using my brain. I once took $4000 and put half into Donna Karin because I really liked her clothes and half into Hormel because they were starting to make easy-to-prepare meals for one. Two years later I had more than doubled my money and I really needed it because I moved from Minnesota to northern California and bought a condo when the real estate market was at it's peak!! I'm such a financial wizard. I moved from California when the real estate market was at it's low point and the bank wouldn't even take a short pay on the mortgage... Ya win some and ya lose some.

[tinman.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry you bought Webvan! But I lost more than you on that deal. Not only was I a stock holder, but I was an employee, and a customer, and owner of thousands of utterly worthless stock options.

Still, it was a good place to work. :)

[susandennis]

Wow! I was so emotionally attached to HomeGrocer.Com that their going under was nearly a surgical procedure for me! I was a customer, of course, and a stockholder and a serviced on a review board (once a month HomeGrocer would gather us together and we'd answer questions about the service.

I still have and treasure, my HomeGrocer coffee mugs, my HomeGrocer refrigerator magnets, my HomeGrocer bags... I wanted a shirt but never got one. Oh and I still have a fairly healthy stack of HomeGrocer and WebVan grocery list postits.

For those years, I never darkened the doorway of a grocery store. I loved my delivery guy and I loved the service and I so miss it... Maybe if I'd bought more stock, more groceries... Sigh.

[tinman.livejournal.com]

I've got a TON of Webvan-wear, including a sweatshirt that I continue to wear often. I've only got one HomeGrocer item, though, a nice pullover fleece with the peach logo. I hear that a new version of HomeGrocer is coming back, so perhaps you'll be buying groceries online again soon.

[susandennis]

From your comment to the gocerydelivery god's ear! The HomeGrocer guy - Terry Drayton - is asked about bringing it back a lot but always says he's moved on. But, he still owns the name...

We actually do have Albertsons here who delivers but they suck at it. The quality of the food is WAY below HomeGrocer's/Webvan's standards. They rarely get an order right and their system for fixing problems has a long way to go before it gets to the level of sucks. Oh and they charge $11 for this.

Do I sound bitter?