Dear bp: By a pure stroke of luck I did _not_ lose some friends as a result of their taking my investment advice. After that fiasco, I only discuss stocks with real world relatives:
A friend who was only able to retire [actually, decide one afternoon to quit and hand in his letter the next morning] at 51 because of the stock market and I were having a conversation the fall of 1998. Now, his portfolio has always been with a ML broker. He, himself, professes to know little about stocks.
I mentioned that the best stock I had ever bought was Cisco. Explaining how I had bought my shares in 1990 and how my stock market quest was to find another Cisco, I then told him I still liked the stock and had actually bought more shares the month before for an account in which I did not have any.
Well, his wife came in near the end of the conversation. She said she was very familiar with the company and that this would be a good stock for them to buy.
Ah, well, er, gulp, they bought the wrong stock. I only found this out the beginning of last month while visiting them [in another state]. The wife expressed concern about Sysco's price drop this year and I had no idea what she was talking about. Sorting things out, my "Cisco (CSCO)," had been transformed into, "Sysco (SYY)," a foodservice distributer! Sysco and Cisco sound the same when spoken. They sold the shares SYY.
Regards,
Lynn, still with those friend (who now do hold shares of CSCO)
P.S. The ML broker can not be even partially held responsible for this incorrect stock purchase. |
