Anne Scheiber was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1893. She was employed as an auditor in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 1920 and retired in 1943. With her savings of $5000, she started an account at Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Beane.
Her investment strategy was simple: Buy companies in which she understood their businesses well and hold on to them for the long term until she passed away. She didn't panic during the bear market of the 70's or during the crash of '87 because she was convinced her stocks would come back. Besides the $5000 which she started, she continued to grow her portfolio by investing a major portion of her annual pension of $3,150 and also reinvesting her dividends.
Scheiber did her own research before she did her investing. She didn't trust stock brokers because she was burned by brokers during the 1930's.
She passed away in January 9, 1995 at the age of 101 and by then her portfolio had grown to $22 million! In her will, she donated the $22 million to New York City's Yeshiva University to help educate the bright and needy young women.
Here was Anne Scheiber's top 10 stockholdings:
Here are some morals of the story:
1. Buy and hold strategy does works if you've done your homework like Anne Scheiber. Of course, buy-and-hold critics may say that timing the market will earn you even more. It's just a matter of personal preference here. I'm just proving a point here that one can make a handsome profit from the buy-and-hold strategy, without sleepless nights even when the market crashes.
2. Invest in companies that you can understand. Anne Scheiber invested in leading companies that created products she admired. She loved the movies. So she invested in Loew’s, Columbia, Paramount and Capital Cities Broadcasting. She drank Coke and Pepsi and bought shares in both. She invested in the companies that made medications she took - Schering Plough and Bristol Myers Squibb.
3. Keep saving and investing. Anne Scheiber regularly contributed to her portfolio from the small pension that she got. Regular saving and investing allows you to pick up additional stocks that fit your criteria. Merely saving is not enough. Take advantage of the power of compounding by letting your money work hard for you in the stock market.
4. Give something back. Anne Scheiber's $22 million gift to Yeshiva University will help countless young women realize their full potential for years to come. Yeshiva's president Norman Lamm says: "Anne Scheiber lived to be 101 years old, but here at Yeshiva University her vision and legacy will live forever."
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