The Writer’s Coin

Talking about which stocks have done well and which ones haven’t is all well and good, but I wanted to look at a different side of investing: the kind we do everyday when we buy something we really think we need. Sometimes we do and sometimes we don’t. So here are the best investments I think I’ve ever made:

• Poets & Writers Magazine Subscription ($14.97/six issues): Without this magazine showing up every few months, I might have lost the itch to write. It seems to happen every time — I lose track of myself and get into other things (like this blog or working out) and when the next issue arrives I can almost feel the chastisement: “Why haven’t you written anything in so long? You enjoy it so much.” And it’s true — this is a magazine I’ll be getting for the rest of my life.
• Stock in Sony and 3DO (SNE and THDO): This was years and years ago when I had no idea what I was doing. But when I heard my sister was investing, I figured I could do it too. So I sunk $1,000 into an Etrade account (got a $100 gift card too) and bought Sony and 3DO. At the time I was into video games and 3DO was making great games, while Sony had the Playstation 2 about to come out. This was when the market was inflated too — so of course it sank and I put another $500 in to try to make my money back. It wasn’t happening, I was down about 50% at one point. Then one day Sony shot up for no apparent reason — a lot. After some quick math, I realized I could come out even if I sold everything right away, which I did, vowing never to put myself through that stress again when I had no idea what I was doing. This was trial-by-fire, as they say. But I learned that trading stock was easy to get into and tough to master.
• Engagement Ring ($XXX,XXX): No, it’s not really six figures, I’m just fooling around. I can’t risk putting the real amount on here, for obvious reasons. But it was the most amount of money I’ve ever spent on anything, and it was a tough process to go to. Forget about the money, it has so many other layers to it — the commitment, the next step in your life, etc. Plus I was so nervous to see if she was going to like it or not. It taught me a lot about saving for a big purchase and about where I was in my life in terms of committing to one person for the rest of it.
• Gotham Writers Workshop ($400 for a 10-week class): This was an online class I signed up for after reading about it in one of those ubiquitous yellow boxes that are everywhere these days. You’ve seen them around, probably. It was the first time I was in a real class devoted to creative writing and it made me realize that I wanted more. I eventually went to Grad School in Writing and got a heavier dose, but this was my toe in the water. And I liked it.

This list makes me realize that sometimes the most valuable things you “buy” aren’t what you would traditionally think of as “great buys.” And of course, for every one of these, there are like five bad buys that go with it.

What’s your greatest recent investment?

Tags: 3DO, best investments ever, engagement ring, poets and writers magazine, sony