Author Topic: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?  (Read 11392 times)

starguru

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anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« on: January 21, 2015, 12:09:05 PM »
I had like $214 in a few of my accounts and used it to buy 1 share of IVV (no commission at fidelity) just to try and get more of my money to work. 

ltt

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2015, 12:10:30 PM »
Yes, we have bought one share of an item before.  However, we did make some subsequent dollar investments to add to the one share.

Wolf_Stache

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #2 on: January 21, 2015, 12:11:04 PM »
Yes, I bought a single share of Tesla. I like the idea of the company, but I couldn't justify allocating more of a single share of my still small portfolio to it (because one share is still almost 1% of my portfolio at this point.)

Gone Fishing

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2015, 01:03:15 PM »
I wanted 1 share of certificated bank stock in 2008 as a gift for a friend.  The fees would have been around 3x the price of the share.  It would have been a good investment, but would only be around break even now due to the fees!

starguru

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2015, 01:14:30 PM »
Yeah in the end I ended up with like 6 shares since I had 230-400 in a bunch of accounts due to dividends.  I felt kind of silly buying 1 at a time.  But hey, it aint doing anything sitting there in cash...

brooklynguy

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #5 on: January 21, 2015, 01:22:36 PM »
I bought one share of Berkshire Hathaway Class B stock to get a shareholder discount on my Geico auto insurance.

Heckler

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2015, 01:23:25 PM »
You don't have ability to DRIP your dividends?

JetBlast

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2015, 01:25:37 PM »
One share of Berkshire Hathaway Class B as a birthday present to myself. I bought it so that whenever I open my brokerage account I have a reminder of the power of taking the long view and ignoring the short term whims of the market.

starguru

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #8 on: January 21, 2015, 02:06:00 PM »
One share of Berkshire Hathaway Class B as a birthday present to myself. I bought it so that whenever I open my brokerage account I have a reminder of the power of taking the long view and ignoring the short term whims of the market.
On the topic of BH, are you worried about management once WB is no longer in the picture for whatever reason?

skyrefuge

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #9 on: January 21, 2015, 02:13:18 PM »
No, because "shares" are some meaningless anachronism that maybe my grandpa once told me about?

On the topic of BH, are you worried about management once WB is no longer in the picture for whatever reason?

I sure would be, because stressing about the management of a company that I hold ~$150 of my wealth in would be an extremely productive use of my energy!

Edit: I just checked and I actually own some $5500 of BH (via broad index funds, so no, I have no idea how many share-things that is). Eek, now I'm not going to be able to sleep at night!!!
« Last Edit: January 21, 2015, 02:21:51 PM by skyrefuge »

dragoncar

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #10 on: January 21, 2015, 02:42:03 PM »
I bought one share of Berkshire Hathaway Class B stock to get a shareholder discount on my Geico auto insurance.

Why not Class A?

Spondulix

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #11 on: January 21, 2015, 02:48:17 PM »
My dad bought my siblings and I one stock when we turned 16. He really wanted to buy Disney but it was too pricy. I got one share of Johnson Controls. Last year (at 34) I sold it: purchased for $30, sold for about $350. It underperformed the S&P, but it was a real life lesson in compounding!

gimp

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #12 on: January 21, 2015, 03:07:27 PM »
On the topic of BH, are you worried about management once WB is no longer in the picture for whatever reason?

Check out who the other people are running it apart from Buffett.

He knows how to pick excellent people. For example, Charlie Munger (to be fair, he's quite old as well.) But you get my point. Certainly Buffett isn't eternal, unfortunately, but whoever is appointed successor will similarly be a value investor, and be able to grab those best opportunities every two years or so that they may happen.

brooklynguy

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #13 on: January 21, 2015, 03:49:47 PM »
Why not Class A?

Class A is for the shareholder discount on private yacht insurance.

Due to the 40 bucks or so that I saved on my auto insurance last year, my ROI on that single share was about 30% last year (four times higher than the amount of return due to appreciation of the stock).

BarkyardBQ

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #14 on: January 21, 2015, 04:29:19 PM »
I bought one share of Berkshire Hathaway Class B stock to get a shareholder discount on my Geico auto insurance.

Dude you're awesome! Thanks for this, I read this, made the call, and saved $108 a year with this discount!

5 minute call for $108 savings is 1296 an hour!

or

54/6 = 9 * 173 = 1557

I love this forum and it's people!
« Last Edit: January 21, 2015, 04:38:46 PM by zdravé »

neil

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #15 on: January 21, 2015, 05:01:32 PM »
Geez, I had no idea about the shareholder discount with Geico either.  I might need to look into that.

I know in the past, people used to buy one share of Disney simply to get the stock certificate.  Something about collectors wanting them because they had custom drawings or something.  It was big news when they stopped issuing certificates.

Static Void

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #16 on: January 21, 2015, 05:17:41 PM »
My grandfather gave me three shares of SCG $7/each in, oh, 1975 or so. South Carolina Electric & Gas. Not sure why he chose that. For a while they would send me checks for $0.86 or so four times a year, til my dad advised setting it for dividend reinvestment. And after a split, now I have nine share at $64!

Speaking of anachronisms, remember when share prices were in "eighths"?

Nords

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #17 on: January 21, 2015, 05:41:50 PM »
I bought one share of Berkshire Hathaway Class B stock to get a shareholder discount on my Geico auto insurance.
Why not Class A?
My spouse and I own enough "B" shares to buy one or more "A" shares, but the options market for "A" shares sucks.  And if you try to sell naked puts on "A" shares, Fidelity gets downright peevish about your margin limits. 

Seriously, though, Berkshire makes up 23% of our portfolio's asset allocation. 

We try to keep our four equities in an asset-allocation band of 18%-28% each, and when one bumps into the limits of those bands then we sell the appropriate out-of-the-money put or call option with a strike price about 10%-15% away from the current share price.  That way we collect a small premium on the amount of the shares we'd need to rebalance, and we can enjoy a nice dinner out (or buy more surf wax).  If the price never hits the strike then nothing changes.  If the price hits the strike then we automatically rebalance.  It's the best way we've ever found in 28 years of marriage to avoid the "Do you really need to rebalance right now??!" debate.

One share of Berkshire Hathaway Class B as a birthday present to myself. I bought it so that whenever I open my brokerage account I have a reminder of the power of taking the long view and ignoring the short term whims of the market.
On the topic of BH, are you worried about management once WB is no longer in the picture for whatever reason?
Check out who the other people are running it apart from Buffett.

He knows how to pick excellent people. For example, Charlie Munger (to be fair, he's quite old as well.) But you get my point. Certainly Buffett isn't eternal, unfortunately, but whoever is appointed successor will similarly be a value investor, and be able to grab those best opportunities every two years or so that they may happen.
Munger just turned 91 years old on New Year's Day.  Buffett will be 85 years old on 30 August.

Lately I'm beginning to wonder whether it makes sense to sell Berkshire shares.  Our portfolio is more diversified without them, yet they certainly don't hurt the portfolio's total value.  I wonder whether this would be like buying Apple or Microsoft or Wal-Mart stock in its early years, although those three have all certainly had scary volatility and a few near-death experiences.  We've sold a few Berkshire shares over the last decade, but now our cost basis on a $150 share is $42.80.  When Buffett or Munger step down, I sincerely hope that the shorts hammer down the price so that my naked puts will exercise and we'll end up buying more shares at a nice discount.  However the extant business owners along with names like Jain, Weschler, Coombs, and Cool should keep the company lurching along on its present course.  Guys like Howard Buffett and Bill Gates should be around for a while to help with the culture.

innerscorecard

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #18 on: January 21, 2015, 07:02:18 PM »
I sold my Berkshire this year after it appreciated to over 1.5x book value. I will buy again when it gets cheaper on a relative basis to book value, as it surely will.

Nords

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #19 on: January 21, 2015, 07:06:27 PM »
Heh-- speaking of aging CEOs and succession plans:
http://news.yahoo.com/tootsie-rolls-95-old-ceo-dies-sparks-takeover-214741362--sector.html

Rumors are already flying that Berkshire Hathaway would buy Tootsie Roll to bolt on to See's Candies.

MDM

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #20 on: January 21, 2015, 09:02:28 PM »
1 share each of several Schwab ETFs to invest as much as possible of ~$250 for my son's custodial Roth IRA.  Did leave $0.35 in cash....

JetBlast

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #21 on: January 21, 2015, 09:43:18 PM »
One share of Berkshire Hathaway Class B as a birthday present to myself. I bought it so that whenever I open my brokerage account I have a reminder of the power of taking the long view and ignoring the short term whims of the market.
On the topic of BH, are you worried about management once WB is no longer in the picture for whatever reason?
Nope, for two reasons:

1) WB has shown himself to be an astute judge of talent, and hopefully his picks to run Berkshire will bare that out again.

2) I invested a whopping $118 or thereabouts. I'm not going to lose any sleep if Berkshire hits a rough patch after WB passes.


cjottawa

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #22 on: January 22, 2015, 07:13:28 AM »
From the brilliant William Bernstein's website, efficient frontier, comes this article on why I won't touch individual stocks:

http://www.efficientfrontier.com/ef/900/15st.htm

With $214 I'd buy more of the index mutual funds I already own. (fractional, if necessary)

Not trying to sound preachy but do you have an Investment Policy Statement? That should dictate where and how you invest your spare money. If you don't want to follow that, use the $214 and buy yourself a car stereo, or some Lego, or whatever else makes you happy.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2015, 07:33:28 AM by cjottawa »

Scandium

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #23 on: January 22, 2015, 10:41:54 AM »
I bought one share of Berkshire Hathaway Class B stock to get a shareholder discount on my Geico auto insurance.

Dude you're awesome! Thanks for this, I read this, made the call, and saved $108 a year with this discount!

5 minute call for $108 savings is 1296 an hour!

or

54/6 = 9 * 173 = 1557

I love this forum and it's people!

I called Geico and asked if I could get the shareholder discount (didn't mention that I would have to buy it first..), but was informed I had other "special discounts" that were better. No idea what these were (family? Car+home or something?). But that saved me from buying a share of BRK.

dragoncar

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #24 on: January 22, 2015, 11:06:17 AM »
I bought one share of Berkshire Hathaway Class B stock to get a shareholder discount on my Geico auto insurance.

Dude you're awesome! Thanks for this, I read this, made the call, and saved $108 a year with this discount!

5 minute call for $108 savings is 1296 an hour!

or

54/6 = 9 * 173 = 1557

I love this forum and it's people!

I called Geico and asked if I could get the shareholder discount (didn't mention that I would have to buy it first..), but was informed I had other "special discounts" that were better. No idea what these were (family? Car+home or something?). But that saved me from buying a share of BRK.

I know a shareholder discount wouldn't help me.  It's one discount, but not the only one, and is not entirely cumulative with others.

johnstein

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #25 on: January 22, 2015, 12:36:04 PM »
I had 1 share of starbucks few years ago when they give you a free cup of coffee in their annual report.  After I cut coffee, i sold them.

Love WB for his investment thesis, but hates his politics.  To me, BRK seems a little over priced right now.  WB always come out and say when he thinks BRK is too low relative to book.  But this market is different from any other market we've seen.  every central banks are printing out money.

nazar

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #26 on: January 24, 2015, 03:30:09 PM »
I could only see owning one share if it were for the purpose of getting a shareholder benefit.  I think it is more useful to own even lots (multiple of 100) since you can boost income selectively by writing covered calls. 

Financial.Velociraptor

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #27 on: January 26, 2015, 01:12:45 PM »
I had a company perk to buy shares at a discount twice a year.  I was an insider at the time so I could only call to sell at certain intervals around quarterly reporting.  I once sold "everything" because the price was frothy in my opinion and ended up selling on the precise day some kind of arcane internal program dividend calculation went through.  After briefly having 0 shares, I got an email that the DRIP had automagically bought me a little more than a 2/3 more of a single share.  By policy, I literally couldn't cash the thing out...

MustachianMD

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #28 on: January 26, 2015, 11:33:52 PM »
I bought one share of Berkshire Hathaway Class B stock to get a shareholder discount on my Geico auto insurance.

I was debating on doing that. How much of a discount did it give you, and will they give you a discount on other insurance they offer- i.e. umbrella and home.

clifp

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #29 on: January 27, 2015, 02:15:40 AM »
I bought A share of Berkshire A for $85,000 to get my Geico discount..  It turns out the stock appreciation was tad better than discount :).

I also bought one share of small bank stock. I put in an order to buy 500 shares of ~$20 stock. Those damn high frequency traders had one share for sale at the price, although I did get the low price for the day the $8.95 commission irked me. The next day I got 500 more shares.

brooklynguy

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #30 on: January 27, 2015, 09:45:33 AM »
I bought one share of Berkshire Hathaway Class B stock to get a shareholder discount on my Geico auto insurance.

I was debating on doing that. How much of a discount did it give you, and will they give you a discount on other insurance they offer- i.e. umbrella and home.

My discount was about $40 per year, but it depends on a number of factors (including what state you live in and what other discounts have already been applied to your policy).  Just call and ask them what (if any) discount you will get by becoming a Berkshire shareholder before purchasing the stock to see if it's worth it.  That's what I did.

rmendpara

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #31 on: January 27, 2015, 10:13:20 AM »
I had like $214 in a few of my accounts and used it to buy 1 share of IVV (no commission at fidelity) just to try and get more of my money to work.

Absolutely. Not stocks, since the fees would eat up the initial investment for most stock purchases of 1 share (except a few like priceline or berkshire...).

I regularly purchase ETFs through my Vanguard accounts and inside my IRAs when dividends get paid out to stay invested. I'd so the same if it were at Fidelity or Schwab.

AlanStache

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Re: anyone ever bought 1 share of something?
« Reply #32 on: January 28, 2015, 06:24:30 AM »
Checked last night and looks like one class B share of Berkshire Hathaway will save me 43$/year with Geico, 3.5 years to break even not counting any appreciation by BH.  Thanks!

Have never intentionally bought one share before, have ended up with some small fraction of a share.  After I sold what I had I got a dividend automatically reinvested, p.i.a, selling 6.23$ of XYZ with a transaction cost of 8$....  But I really did not want to keep looking at that item in the account, am to anal in some ways-want things clean and orderly.