Grandpa’s $50,000 Carpet

 

My grandpa used to talk to me about the stock market and investing when I was a little kid, which sparked my interest in the financial world. One of his stories that stuck with me was about a $50,000 carpet that he bought.

Now this carpet wasn’t a rare, foreign, handmade, luxury carpet produced by Kanye West. Just some regular old carpet. So this is why it cost $50,000…

Grandpa was helping to fix his sister’s house in the 1970’s. They needed to buy some carpet to finish it up, but good old Grandpa didn’t have the cash on hand at the moment. So he pulled some money from an investment he had made. He sold some shares of Johnson & Johnson stock, and took out $300. Then bought some carpet. No big deal.

Except that if he had left that $300 in Johnson & Johnson stock in 1976, it would be worth $48,403 today!

We’ll get into how that’s possible pretty soon here, but the main point is that investing is a powerful tool that can turn relatively small amounts of money into massive amounts of money over time.  It is also a tool that some people are scared of and avoid, but with a little education you’ll be able to use it effectively and confidently! #MoneyGoals

 

(Pictured: My grandpa showing off his mad fishing skills)