Aahhh Coca-Cola. The second stock I ever purchased.
I remember reading in various books and articles about stock market veterans like Warren Buffett who would decide to buy shares because he found that he really liked going to McDonald’s for lunch (I’m sure, in addition to a litany of other metrics that fit the bill).
When I looked around at companies I patronized near the end of 2016, I found one at the top of the stack was Coca-Cola. In my house growing up, we took our lead from Dad in knowing that Coke was obviously way better than Pepsi. And the tradition of having cans of Coke stocked in the fridge has followed me into adulthood.
Around this time, I had also learned about a new trading platform that was advertising itself as a no-fee options for trading called Robinhood. It seemed like a perfect fit for my fun money investments since I would be starting with such a small amount in my account, I knew $5 or $7 fees on the purchase and sale could easily translate to the loss of 2 or 3% of my account with each trade.
On November 10, 2016, I deposited $500 into Robinhood and without much more research other than knowing Coca-Cola was an extremely stable brand, and Warren Buffett owned a massive number of shares, I brought 12 shares of Coca-Cola for $40.92 per share.
As I held those shares over the following weeks, I started thinking that maybe Coke was not the right investment for my fun money account. I think it is a great long term, stable investment. But in trying to be aggressive, I came to realize that I was really looking for higher risk, higher reward, growth opportunities.
So, I collected $4.20 in dividends on December 15, 2016, and decided to sell those 12 shares for $41.16 per share on January 17, 2017.
I had made a total profit of $7.08!
I ended up transferring that money back out of Robinhood at the end of January so that I could go after something a little more aggressive.
FNMNY 