Drip Portfolio Report

<THE DRIP PORTFOLIO>
My Most Foolish Investment
Something called Motley

Frank Bosley ([email protected])

Wayne, N.J. (Jan. 5, 1999) --

"If I can believe I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it, even if I may not have it at the beginning." - Mahatma Gandhi

Hello, Fools and Happy New Year! I suppose that many of you are probably wondering what this DRIP Port story is about and why some Fool named "racerboy" was asked to make a contribution here. Well, truth is, I'm sort of still scratching my head over that one as well. When Jeff (TMFJeff) e-mailed me asking me if I would be interested, I told him that I did not know if I was really qualified. He explained to me that there were no set guidelines for DRIP Port articles. He simply told me to write about whatever came to mind, be it my best investment, my most foolish one (notice the small f), or maybe a piece on the oil industry.

At first I thought I would elaborate on the 1910 Supreme Court decision regarding the break-up of the Standard Oil monopoly, but I figured that I would save that for next time. (Yeah, Jeff actually asked me to write two articles.) So then I considered the worst investment scenario. This seemed like a pretty Foolish topic, except that I am still new at this investment game and have yet to really experience a bad investment. Of course, I'm not counting the fact that I left my 401(k) money tied up in an interest income fund for eight years! So I decided that I would write about my best investment, but gear it to the newest Fools in our community, and you know who you are.

Contrary to what many of the Fools out there who know me would expect, I am not going to talk about Exxon (NYSE: XON), even though I think it is the best DRIP out there. Did you know you can start a fee-free DRIP with Exxon? All you need to do is send $250 to BKB-Boston at... oh, I know, I know. I said I wasn't going to talk about Exxon. I just get sort of carried away sometimes. So no, my best investment was not in some oil conglomerate or high rising tech stock. My best investment was really a relatively small investment of time, not money, and took place in the summer of 1997. That was when I first discovered The Motley Fool.

The easiest way to explain the impact that The Motley Fool has had on my own life is to do it in a bit of retrospect. As the result of a lawsuit (that cost me two cracked vertebrae), I received a sum of money and did not know what to do with it. I had seen others who had been awarded monetary damages for injuries simply waste their money on cars, toys, and other high-dollar items. I did not want to fall into the same trap and wanted to invest the money, but I didn't know how to get started.

Then one night, I stumbled upon The Motley Fool. Talk about serendipity! This website has changed my life tenfold!! It is simply the best!!! I cannot offer enough laudatory adjectives to describe everything that I have learned from the Fools. They really are a group of caring, compassionate, and thoughtful members of humanity. I am so proud to be associated with them, as I hope that all of you are as well.

I think it is fitting that I came upon The Motley Fool just when the DRIP portfolio was being organized because DRIPs are really designed for the small investor (that's small in capital, not stature) :o). Though my initial investment was in the mechanical Foolish Four, it was through the DRIP Portfolio that I really broadened my knowledge of investing (and continue to do so, every day).

So, for all you new Fools out there who are a bit overwhelmed by all this rhetoric of street names, transfer agents, OCP fees, and dollar-cost-averaging strategies, worry not. I know exactly where you are coming from. For too long you have been told that the "black art" of investing was best left to the "knowledgeable" Wise. I beg to differ. Margaret Mead said, "Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it always has."

Well, my fine Foolish friends, that is what the Motley Fool philosophy is all about. Changing people's worlds. It worked for me and I promise that if you give it a chance, it will work for you, too!

I wish you all a safe, happy, and most of all, Foolish New Year!

Frank
TMFRacer
...but I still am...
racerboy ~<:o by-line="" from="" that="" tony="">
[Correction: Yesterday's Drip Port report had an error in the final numbers. We mistakenly transposed Mellon's and Campbell Soup's closing price quotes. The numbers have been corrected.]

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