Even $100 Can Make You Financially Free

You just filled up your SUV. Nearly $100.

You went to a baseball game this weekend with a friend, parked at the stadium, had some hot dogs. About $100. (double it if you took your kids)

You bought the latest pair of fall shoes. $100.

But let’s say you spent that $100 on ExxonMobil’s stock a year ago instead.

According to Sharebuilder’s great “what if I had invested” feature, its value today would be $122.

Not too shabby. For $100.

What if you had bought General Electric instead? $119.

What if you had spent that $100 on Exxon’s stock 5 years ago? Its value today would be $256.

Many investors think $100 gets them nowhere. But it can take you everywhere.

Problem is you have to start now. You have to invest it now to make it happen.

Only $100.

The Motley Fool recently had an article with a chart laying out what the returns would be if you had invested $100 in 7 different big name American companies in 1971 and let it sit there (all dividends reinvested.)

Invest $700. Step back. Wait. Let it grow.

The companies were:

GM, IBM, GE, McDonald’s, Boeing and Altria Group (aka Phillip Morris)

Result?

$165,720.45

What if that investor had been putting in $100 additional dollars every month? He’s be rich! Rich as Paris Hilton.

If you had started just ten years ago with $100 and put in an additional $100 every month into ExxonMobil you’d be building a nice little nestegg. You would have invested $12,700. It would be worth, dividends reinvested, $30,894 for a gain of 143.3%.

For just $100 every month.

The power of time and compounding is magnified as the years go by (with slowly growing but stable stocks.)

According to the Motley Fool, $1000 invested on January 4, 1971 in McDonald’s would be $1.8 million today. $1000 invested in Altria Group on that same day would be $7.4 million. Altria Group was the best performing stock of the S&P 500 over the last 50 years. Obviously, lots of money in smokers.

Conversely, $1000 invested in GM in 1971 would be worth only $7,480 today. Not so much money in the car manufacturers.

You win some. You lose some. But you have to be in the game to find your financial freedom.

All for $100.

Can you find $100 a month?