Investing junkie from an early age

It all started when I was just 15 years old. I was never quite like the other kids. I opened the paper every morning to the business section and got to the boring box scores only if the life section was the last choice.

The stock market was in a sustained upturn in 1995 and beginning to become part of pop culture. I decided, for reasons beyond my memory, that I had some good investment advice for my parents. Windows 95 had just come out, and I was a bit of a computer geek. Microsoft and Intel sold the most expensive parts of just about all computers, and so I advised my parents to buy shares of Intel and Microsoft. Subsequently, they split $5,000 between the two companies. Five years later, I still have those shares — my parents later told me the $5,000 was a gift — and the companies make up the core of my portfolio.

Later that year, I made my first buy, splitting $800 between America Online and Iomega. I used both products, and they seemed to be good companies, despite what people were saying about AOL — which had received a lot of bad press because of constant busy signals and related traffic problems. This stock was so impressive since it was losing points just because people were using the product. This could not possibly be a bad thing.

And today, AOL is still strong though Iomega became a bit of a disaster — as it turned out, product recalls and other factors, such as compact discs, blind-sided both the company and me.

What's the point of all this? It's not to brag about my stock-picking abilities. It's to show that these abilities are really nothing more than the ruminations of a kid looking at the products he and his friends used.

I did not have some special knowledge that the personal-computer industry would explode. I did not know AOL would become the dominant "Internet" for most Americans. The companies just seemed to make products that were dominating their competitors.

Anyone can do what I did — all it takes is the desire to learn and the willingness to risk some money. I started with only $400 in AOL, and that sum has grown to about $10,000. Of course, every once in a while I kick myself for the $400 I invested in Iomega. But I know that it was just as good an investment as AOL at the time.

The best way to start investing is not to listen to CNBC for the hot stocks. Just look around yourself. Do you have a program on your computer that does something really unique? Are you a big fan of your new running shoes?

The worst thing you can do is think that buying into the latest fad will give you a great investment. Sure, you might make a buck or two, but you might as well just go to Las Vegas — at least there the drinks and the shows are free.

Cameron Jones '01 is an economics major from Reston, Va.