What if I had just bought GE

Back in 2008, when I had just gotten hired with Reynolds and Reynolds and was in training in Houston, I had some disposable income and I was thinking of playing around in the stock market. It seemed like it would have been a great time to do so since the market was in the toilet, so my feeling was I could put some money in and not really worry too much because the market had to come back, right? Especially if I just invested in strong, steady companies.

I had done some homework, and was pretty set on buying GE stock at a little under $17/share. This was a crazy low price for GE, especially given their high just months before was double that, so I figured this would rebound and I could double my money within a year. Plus, it had a $.31 dividend, so even if it was stagnant I would still make some money. I had a solid chunk all ready to go in my E*Trade account, but just couldn't pull the trigger. Too many "what if" questions, and thoughts of "am I really patient enough to let this grow?" The answer was inevitably no.

Turns out, I would have been totally wrong.

Currently, GE shares are still trading for just below $17, and in June of '09 they dropped their dividend to $.10 (though it has been building and is currently at $.15). So, if I would have bought it then, I would be sitting on it now with maybe a few bucks worth of dividends to show for it.

In this rare instance, I'm pretty happy I missed out.