But there is one thing I really remember from that class. Well we were suppose to pick some stocks to track, and I believe we actually competed in some mock stock portfolio competition. Back in those days I didn’t know much about computers and wasn’t too aware of this whole internet thing, so I’d go down to the library and look up stock prices in the newspaper (you’ll see the irony in this situation once you find out what my profession is and what I went to school for the following fall).

Anyway I don’t remember much about my stock picks other than I decided to follow Yahoo. Now just to prove what a stock picking genius I was I honestly thought that I was following the chocolate milk shake drink (Yoohoo). Well I think I bought the stock at $8-$12 and by the time the class was over Yahoo was selling for over $100 a share and as I follow the stock for the next year or so after the class it got as high as $250 a share and was constantly splitting. Had I actually thrown some money in the stock for real I’d probably be able to buy a few of those Yoohoo drinks I was so fond of.

Well this was really the start for me. Had I been home sick or day dreaming about what video game I was going to play when I got home I probably would have never gotten into investing.

While I never forgot about compounding, I guess I never thought I could take advantage of it until I was an adult and had a full time job so that I could then find some magical vehicle to give me a good rate of return on my money. Afterall I really thought 6% was a great return and if I could just lock something like that in when I was older, man would I be rich.

I had it all planned out too. The first 5 years or so that I got a job I was going to live like a pauper and invest as much as I could. I figured If I could live the first 20 years or so of my life without making any significant money, why not extend it for a few more years once I got a job and use those resources for investing.

Well as 7th or 8th grader this was my plan.