Being a conservative investor in old-time, and modern Phoenix, Arizona


How we use the language changes over time, and nowadays the word "conservative" politically has come to mean what I would call "radical". That is, way out on a particular edge, in this case "right wing". And I accept that the language changes. Heck, I remember when "bad" meant bad, and then it meant good, and it probably means bad again. Back in the eighties if someone had told me that their dog was "bad sick" I'd have called the vet. I've always been slow on the uptake. I wonder if people still talk like that?

Anyway, I'm a conservative investor, and always have been. I learned the basics of it as a kid, because of 100 shares of a Mutual Fund that I was given by an uncle when I was born. When I got old enough to read, I started reading the materials that were mailed to me regularly. I learned what a Blue Chip stock was, and I learned what conservative investments were, often including investing in both Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Yeah, I was a nerdy kid, and it amused me to see that I had shares in both McDonalds and Burger King. Well, pieces of shares, that's how a Mutual Fund works. I used to call it my "Trust Fund", and while it never grew to a point that it made me rich, it paid reasonable dividends that were automatically reinvested. It was very similar to a regular savings account at a bank, except that the money wasn't FDIC insured. I used to look at the companies that I had invested in, like GM, and Ford, and figured that by the time my tiny portion of those companies had failed, the whole country would be in chaos, so I didn't worry. This was a conservative investment, very conservative.

If I were to call my broker today and ask to be put in something conservative, he would select stocks that were probably not going to move much, and that would just plod along, paying regular dividends. He might suggest that I try buying a few shares of a particular stock, just to see my reaction, but I would remind him of how conservative I am, and I would pass.

Back in 1996 I got my Series 63 license, and although it never came to anything, it was a good education for me. That's your first step to becoming a stockbroker (which is a Series 6), for which my only qualification is that I looked good in a suit. I still have no idea why they hired me? And that's when I realized that conservative investing is even duller than I had thought. It starts with Whole Life Insurance, which I never did myself as I've never had any dependents. And that's AFTER you've maxed out your savings, especially a 401K or similar. Only then do you start investing in Mutual Funds, and then on to Equity, and if you're really brave, Real Estate.

I was talking to an old friend of mine today who has always been fascinated with investing, and we compared notes about the Sun Valley Parkway, which I first saw in 1989. People had invested in that, and nothing had really happened year after year after year. If Phoenix had expanded to that area, as the investors thought it would, it would have made fortunes, but the gamble didn't pay off. Very few people have even heard of that area, even today.! Not a very conservative investment! I'll pass, thank you.

Image at the top of this post: the Sun Valley Parkway at Bethany Home Road in 2016. You're looking east at the White Tank Mountains.

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