by Jim Toes
I do. I was 23 years old and the company was Greenfield Financial which I purchased for $0.04c per share and sold for 3 zeros and a 1, yes, $.0001. My total loss was in the $2,000 range, but given that my rent at the time was $300/month, it was meaningful. This purchase was my first experience with investing. Granted, some would refer to my conduct differently. Like many of my generation, buying stocks was of great interest. Even though I knew Greenfield Financial would not be the next Microsoft, I accepted the risk and only blamed myself for the loss.
There were two events last week which caused me to remember the Greenfield purchase. The first was a Federated Investments report which stated that Millenials will inherit $30 trillion by 2048. That is an enormous transfer of wealth and begs the questions; “How will Millenials handle their inheritance? What will their attitudes towards investing be? Will they be ‘stock pickers’ or ‘coupon clippers?”. Will they be able to take a family run business to the next level by raising capital through a public offering? I hope that Millenials realize that much of what they will inherit will come from risk takers who realized that – while capital preservation is important, it is not a be-all/end-all strategy. Our nation is built upon the actions of risk takers.
“How will Millenials handle their inheritance? What will their attitudes towards investing be? Will they be ‘stock pickers’ or ‘coupon clippers?”. Will they be able to take a family run business to the next level by raising capital through a public offering?”
The second event was a SEC Advisory Committee Roundtable on capital formation that had an emphasis on venture exchanges. Many of the Commissioners who participated had issued statements on crowd funding, Reg A+ securities and the need to create a healthy ecosystem for the secondary trading of such securities. While venture exchanges and markets are not new, there is considerable attention being given to them by both the SEC and Congress. In fact, later today there will be a Senate hearing on this very topic which we encourage you watch.
A report on the SEC Advisory Committee Roundtable can be found here >
A link to the Senate webcast for later today at 10am is here >