FRED FULD 111 | From Wall Street News Network

When and why did the CIA create a venture capital fund? How did a failed stockbroker become a literary giant? Fred Fuld III from the Wall Street News Network joined me to discuss Financial History, Investment Trivia and Antique Stock Certificates.

Fred Fuld III is a former financial services executive, stockbroker, and market maker on the options floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange. He was Vice president of a San Francisco based investment management firm and worked as an adjunct professor for the College of Business at California State University East Bay. He is the publisher of the Wall Street News Network website. He’s written several investment related books including Stock Market Trivia and Investment Trivia, as well as three mystery novels.

Fred is an interesting guy. Here's some links to find out more about him and his work:

Amazon author profile
Investment Research Institute - in case you have an antique stock certificate lying around
Wall Street News Network

Disclosure: The links provided are affiliate links. I will be paid a commission if you use this link to make a purchase. You will also usually receive a discount by using these links/coupon codes. I only recommend products and services that I use and trust myself or where I have interviewed and/or met the founders and have assured myself that they’re offering something of value.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Chloe (1s):

Stocks for Beginners, Phil, Muscatello and Fin Pods are authorized reps of MoneySherpa. The information in this podcast is general in nature and doesn't take into account your personal situation.

Fred (12s):

I don't think romance has really gone out of it, but I do know in the days of stock certificates, usually the fancier stock certificates had a tendency to be the bigger scams. I have one certificate, it must be two feet by three feet And. it was a gold mining company, And. it had gold nuggets, large gold nuggets, and little bottles of gold dust and a mining scene on it. And of course, that turned out to be a, to be a bust. I, I don't know if it was actually a scam or a swindle, but basically they created that fancy certificate to entice people to invest in that stock.

Phil (54s):

Hi, and welcome back to Stocks for Beginners. I'm Phil Muscatello When. and why did the IA create a venture capital fund? How did a failed stockbroker become a literary giant. Joining me in this episode to delve into stock market history and trivia is financial historian Fred Full III Hello Fred.

Fred (1m 15s):

Hello and thanks for inviting me. This sounds That's great. Sounds fun.

Phil (1m 20s):

It is, it is fun. And Like I said as we were talking off air that I heard you on another podcast. and for some strange reason, I thought this guy sounds exactly like Johnny Cash

Fred (1m 32s):

Well Thank.

Phil (1m 32s):

You I don know what that came from, but it's d more difficult now that looking at you, I can't see any Johnny cash, but I, I'm a big fan of the music Fred Full III is a former financial services executive stockbroker and market maker on the options floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange. he was vice president of a San Francisco based investment management firm and worked as an adjunct professor for the college of business at California State University East Bay. He's the publisher of the Wall Street News Network website, which we'll talk about a little bit later. And he is written several investment related books including stock market trivia and in investment trivia as well as three mystery novels.

Phil (2m 14s):

So let's go back and you've got a long history in the stock market, And, I. Guess you would've been around in the days of open outcry trading. Do you have any memories of those days and what it was like compared to what it's like now?

Fred (2m 28s):

Oh yes, I do. And You know, I started out actually as a stockbroker, right outta college. And in those days you basically had to call up your broker if you wanted to do a trade internet back then. And if You know needed to make a trade, you have to call your broker and say, I wanna buy or sell hundred shares or something. There's no such thing as an online trading platform. So after working as a stockbroker for a few years, I had the opportunity to do trading on the floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange on the options floor And. it was actually the second largest options trading floor in the United States after the Chicago Board of Options.

Fred (3m 12s):

And it's just like you see on TV with people yelling and screaming and about the only really major unusual thing I remember is I saw some guy, he was, his face turned white and he was about to faint. He was standing right next to me and I said, are you okay And? he said, yeah, He said, but I just lost a hundred thousand dollars. And surprised he wasn't carried out to, to the hospital, but it, it was You know fun and a good learning experience. And I You know, made some money and had the opportunity to oversee the financial planning department of a, of an investment management company. And so I shifted over to there and then I started teaching part-time at the university.

Fred (3m 56s):

And so anyway, it's, it's been a nice journey.

Phil (4m 0s):

It's funny to reflect that there used to be a, a number of stock exchanges and options exchange trading floors around the country. They weren't, it wasn't all just focused in Wall Street like It is now.

Fred (4m 13s):

That's right. There was a stock exchange in Philadelphia, which by the way is the first stock exchange in the United States before even the New York Stock Exchange. There's one in Boston, west of the Mississippi River was basically the Pacific Stock Exchange. Chicago had, its a lot of commodities exchanges and as I mentioned earlier, it also had the Chicago Board of Options where they just traded options and not Stocks

Phil (4m 43s):

And, it was all paper-based in those days as well. I, I recall interviewing a guest who was around for the 87 crash, and the hardest part of it was actually finalizing all the trades on pieces of paper all through the night after the day of the 87 crash.

Fred (4m 59s):

That's right. When I was on the exchange, the way it would work is we had little cards with N C R pages and for those that don't know, they're like carbon paper, but without the carbon And, there were like three sets of, of pages. And so the top one I would write out, You know whatever my trade was that I thought. And then the person that I did the trade with, hopefully write out the exact same thing, we would tear off that top page, we'd turn it into the man behind the, the counter. He would take them together, check to make sure they both matched. And then we would keep a copy. And I believe that our sponsoring brokerage firms would get the final card and then they would run that through a mainframe computer at night.

Fred (5m 47s):

And then the following day we'd have these big wide printouts and we'd have to go over those and make sure that those seemed to match. And You know, it seemed like every week there was some kind of error error and we'd have to go back and track those and get those corrected. It's not like today. Nothing like today.

Phil (6m 5s):

Yeah. I, I also remember speaking to another guy and he worked on a trading floor in the eighties when they first got the first computers, there was actually three brokers to a table and that with one monitor, which was on a lazy Susan, which they would spin around so they could look at it at different times. And of course that lazy Susan had ashtrays in it in those days.

Fred (6m 26s):

Well, when I was a stockbroker we did have a, a quote machine on a lazy Susan and we, we had like a, a bull pan where there would be four brokers in cubicles that had walls about three feet high. And whenever someone needed a quote, they just turn that little quote machine to them, type it in and they'd get their information. So it's amazing what we have today with computers in the internet.

Phil (6m 52s):

So what was it about the history of financial markets that you found it interesting? Are you, have you always been interested in this side of history?

Fred (7m 1s):

Yes, I have. Well actually when I became a stockbroker, I did, part of the reason it happened was a lot of times someone would come in back, oh, by the way, back in those days, people would use stock certificates quite a bit. And so they would, they would bring in their certificates if they wanted to sell. And sometimes they'd have certificates from totally worthless companies. Companies that went bankrupt or went out of business and they needed to establish a tax loss for tax purposes. And so I would tell our trader, the guy who handles all the trades for all the stockbrokers, I'd say somebody wants to sell their certificate, I'd be willing to pay a dollar for all their shares and that and if I could keep that certificate.

Fred (7m 46s):

And so I ended up getting a few of these certificates and started collecting them. And then I found a few other collectors on You know through the newspapers, actually through the Wall Street Journal and started buying some old stock certificates. And so over the years I've been collecting things. And I actually have a, an Edison stock ticker that I bought at auction. It's the old had the glass dome with the internal works inside and printed out the ticker tapes. I've got one of those and I've saved a few sets of pink sheets. And Don don't know if your listeners know what Pink Sheets are, if they've heard of Pink Sheet Stocks, they're basically usually low price penny Stocks that are not traded on a major stock exchange.

Fred (8m 30s):

And in the old days, these pink sheets, they were actually pieces of paper about six inches wide and two feet long and about an inch thick. And on every page it would be from A to Z, all these pink sheet Stocks and the market makers, those were the companies that were willing to buy and sell the Stocks and their phone numbers and their current bid and ask prices. And if you wanted to do a trade, the trader would look down that list, try to find the best offer or best bid for that stock and they'd call up that market maker and do the transaction.

Fred (9m 10s):

And so I've saved some sets of those And I have a pretty extensive set of antique stock certificates. Now And I also have another business where I, at antique Stocks dot com where I sell some of these antique Stocks, mostly through eBay, but sometimes directly. So

Phil (9m 28s):

That Edison machine, is that like the one Gomez Adams used to use in the TV show? The Adams family?

Fred (9m 34s):

Yes. It is just like that with the ticker tape coming out. don don't,

Phil (9m 39s):

That's

Fred (9m 40s):

Amazing. Don't think I have any, yeah, I don't think I have any ticker tape to go with it. There may be a little bit on a spool or inside, but that's about it.

Phil (9m 49s):

So it, it kind of speaks to the days antique stock certificates. I'm assuming part of the reason why they were so elaborate was because of anti counterfeit arrangements. But it's a reminder of the time that banks had neoclassical buildings depicting strength and solidity. Is it like that? And has romance gone out of finance if it ever existed?

Fred (10m 10s):

I don't think romance has has really gone out of it. But I do know in the days of stock certificates, usually the fancier stock certificates had a tendency to be the bigger scams. I have one certificate, it must be two feet by three feet And. it was a gold mining company, And. it had gold nuggets, large gold nuggets and little bottles of gold dust and a mining scene on it. And of course that turned out to be a, to be a bust III. Don't know if it was actually a scam or a swindle. But basically they created that fancy certificate to entice people to invest in that stock.

Fred (10m 52s):

And I have another certificate where it shows this unusual machine and the man sitting next to it, And I, I forgot the name of it right off the top of my head, but it was to make a perpetual motion machine And. it was a nice fancy certificate. And of course that did turn out to be a, a total swindle. So

Phil (11m 14s):

It's a bit like the ads you see on social media these days for crypto and other sorts of scam like activities. Not I'm saying that Bitcoin's a scam, but some companies like

Fred (11m 24s):

F T X

Phil (11m 24s):

Investments that are more highly speculative than others.

Fred (11m 28s):

Yes. Yeah, for example, F T X was the big bitcoin and crypto scandal recently with it had a lot of celebrities endorsing them. As a matter of fact, that reminds me, I have a Planet Hollywood certificate with the signatures of Arnold Schwartzenegger and a few other actors had their autographs machine printed on the certificate and it's a bright multicolor certificate with a picture of the restaurant. And of course that went bankrupt. So,

Phil (11m 58s):

So there might, maybe there was a school of qualitative analysis based on the size and elaborate design of a stock certificate.

Fred (12m 6s):

Yeah, maybe I should do a study on that. One of these days.

Phil (12m 10s):

There's a million ways to invest in Stocks, but by following a few simple rules, you can avoid many common investment traps and unwanted anxiety. What if you were able to follow seven principles and seven monthly stock picks on your own terms? Seven, investing might be for you. They want to invest for the long haul in great companies with great leaders who can compound capital for years seven investing are pleased to offer listeners of this podcast a free trial for a week and 33% off the annual price if you sign up using the promo code Stocks for Beginners, this is solid research from experienced advisors who live and breathe the markets. Go to seven investing.com, that's the number seven investing and use the promo code Stocks for Beginners to get your absolutely free trial and 33% discount on the annual premium plan.

Phil (13m 0s):

Past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. I receive a small commission for services, I recommend And I only recommend services I use myself. So let's talk about some of the topics you cover in your book, investment trivia, And I. Don't really have some, any questions lined up here, but it's just more a list of bullet points about some of the topics that you cover. And please feel free to talk about any others. But tell us about the venture capital fund that the C I A created. What were they doing? What were they thinking?

Fred (13m 36s):

Okay, well back in 1999, the C I A Charter Day company called Intel and this company was designed to fund various companies that would provide technology security because they were always looking for ways to You know. The C I A is looking for ways to protect the US government in terms of technology in various ways, whether it's to run a missile system or whether it's to protect computers and servers, that type of thing. So there's a couple interesting things about this story. First of all, the company name in Q Tel in i n dash q dash t e l, well first of all the N and the tell stands for intelligence or Intel.

Fred (14m 29s):

But the Q your listeners will probably find this of interest comes from the Q on the James Bond movies, the man who came up with all the inventions for James Bond. So they inserted that queue into the name and the company has founded a lot of different companies, over a hundred of them. One of them was called Keyhole, which eventually became Google Earth. That was one of their companies. It also has funded a company called Palantir, which is involved in technology security. And, I. Think in the interest of full disclosure, I do need to mention I am a shareholder of Palantir, but many, many other companies, a lot of them you'd never hear of, a lot of 'em are still privately held.

Fred (15m 19s):

As a matter of fact, almost all of them are still privately held. They aren't publicly traded. But it's kind of an interesting thing that the Central intelligence agency would be involved in something like this.

Phil (15m 31s):

So they were pioneers of cybersecurity then?

Fred (15m 33s):

That's right. They were.

Phil (15m 35s):

Wow. I thought it'd be much more nefarious story than that. But III guess we've got to them to thank for a lot of the innovations in that area.

Fred (15m 45s):

Yeah, they keep a lot of their information secret about a lot of their companies and what they're working on. You know, obviously a few of them they can let the public know, for example about Google Earth, but most of the information they keep is confidential.

Phil (16m 2s):

So what about the stock that was run by the F B I and that had a box of clothes, clothes as its only asset?

Fred (16m 10s):

Okay, well that's another interesting one. And back in 2006 there was a company that was created, it was a penny stock And. it went through a couple of name changes. It ended up with the name Ammo, gear And. it was involved in a pump and dump scheme. I think your listeners know what the that is. But for the few that don't, it's where a group of people are able to get hold of a large number of shares of a company and then they send out mass emails and do mass advertising and sometimes it's not even accurate information that they provide in order to drive the stock price up.

Fred (16m 54s):

And then they dump the stock on unwitting investors anyway. So the f b I got wind of this company and they actually became the, the well the managers of the company and working with these penny stock pump and Dumpers and the Stocks only asset was just a box of clothes sitting on the corner of a desk. So the company, the corporation itself did not even own the desk, wasn't even leasing the office or didn't own the office building that it was located in it. That's the only asset of the company.

Fred (17m 35s):

And eventually the company dropped from on a split adjusted basis about $4,000 a share to 10 cents a share. Now, I'm not sure if your listeners know what split adjustment means, but when a stock has a reverse split, in order to adjust for that price to get comparison of the current price, you have to kind of back into it And. it makes it a much higher and higher price. Did you want me to go through an example of that or, or not?

Phil (18m 7s):

Yes, please. I think that's, that's great. It's very educational to know how capital is allocated within a company.

Fred (18m 15s):

Okay, well suppose someone owns a hundred shares of a company and the stock sells for a dollar a share and the company has a one for 10 reverse split. Now I should mention, most companies when they split a stock, they you end up with more shares. You know they'll have a two for one or three for one. But when you have a reverse split, you end up with less shares. Now, technically right after the split, your total amount invested should be about the same that you had prior to the split. So using my example, a hundred shares at a dollar a share, you have a one for 10 reverse split, which means you end up with 10 shares that are now trading at $10 a share.

Fred (19m 4s):

Now imagine if you had a a one for a hundred reverse split, you end up with one share 'cause you only had a hundred shares, you end up with one share, which is trading at a hundred dollars. Now a lot of times when companies do this, we could go back to the 10 for one 'cause it's more likely that that's the scenario. Well, that $10 could drop back down to another dollar a share. So then they have another one for 10 reverse split, and now instead of their 10 shares, they only have one share and it's only worth $10. So you can see in order to get comparison of what you actually started with or what the original starting price is, it creates this really high base price.

Fred (19m 51s):

And anyway, so the stock ended up being about 10 cents a share. And after the pump and dumpers were rested, the company went out of business.

Phil (19m 60s):

And how did the box of clothes appear on the balance sheet

Fred (20m 3s):

As an asset? Just as their, I think it was a $50 value or something like that.

Phil (20m 8s):

Oh, I'm glad it's not a liability. So they were, they were clean clothes, were they,

Fred (20m 13s):

And and of course it had no liabilities. So actually in pretty good shape all things considered.

Phil (20m 24s):

So it was basically for the F B I to facilitate an investigation into these kind of schemes.

Fred (20m 29s):

Yeah, it was basically a sting operation.

Phil (20m 32s):

Oh, nice to hear. And and that's something that's as well as a, a warning for listeners just to be very careful about any, anything that anyone is trying to sell to you as being too good to be true with a huge stock certificate.

Fred (20m 48s):

That's right. Or if a company has a a reverse split, I would be awfully cautious about that. I can't think of any company off the top of my head where it's had a reverse split and then, then the company eventually turns out to be successful. Hmm.

Phil (21m 6s):

So tell us about Bitcoin trivia.

Fred (21m 8s):

Okay, well in terms of Bitcoin, the biggest bit of trivia about Bitcoin is that the original Bitcoin transaction was for two pizzas. And this was back in the days of hobbyists when Bitcoin, I believe was trading for about two tenths of 1 cent, one US cent. And some guy posted on a, an online bulletin board. He said, well, I've got 10,000 Bitcoin and I'd like to trade that for two pizzas if you deliver them to me. And another hobbyist saw that and thought, well this will be fun.

Fred (21m 49s):

You know I'll get this new thing called Bitcoin and all it's gonna cost me It is a couple of pizzas. And it be interesting to see how this thing goes through. So the seller of the Bitcoin buyer, the pizzas, he went out and bought the two pizzas through the Papa John's as one of the popular pizza chains in the United States. And he bought two pizzas from them, delivered them to the man's house. They were both living in Silicon Valley. And the man then that had the Bitcoin, he transferred the Bitcoin to the man that had the pizzas. And now, if that man had actually the man that originally had the 10,000, or for that matter, the man that received the 10,000 Bitcoin had kept on holding onto that Bitcoin, it would now be, I believe, based on recent prices around $600 million, something like that.

Fred (22m 45s):

I'd have to look up the exact price, but it was some outrageously high price where you'd be close to a, oh, it wasn't that high, it was only you. You, they would've had about $291 million. So that's all they would've had if they had held on.

Phil (23m 5s):

Yeah, I, I've actually heard a story about someone who bought an ice cream at Glastonbury, the music festival in England, and they paid for it with one Bitcoin or they, they worked out how to buy a Bitcoin to pay for it and the the transaction didn't go through and forgot about it for years. And then that Bitcoin at the time had become valuable enough to buy a car. And again, of course if he kept on held onto it for a lot longer, most probably worth a lot more than that.

Fred (23m 33s):

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And then over the years I've hear, heard of stories of people that have saved their Bitcoin on their hard drive of their laptop and the laptop is old and they eventually discarded or they, I heard of one man who threw out his, his hard drive, threw it in the trash, and then realized his Bitcoin was on there. And so he went to the dump to look for it. And I think he eventually found it and was able to retrieve his Bitcoin.

Phil (24m 5s):

A desperate move.

Fred (24m 7s):

Yes.

Phil (24m 8s):

So tell us about the first women-owned stock brokerage firm back in 1870.

Fred (24m 13s):

Okay, well this is kind of an interesting story. There was a woman named Victoria Claflin, and she had a sister whose first name was Tennessee, and they were originally involved in spiritualism and fortune telling and that type of thing. But then they decided the real money is an investing and they actually opened up the first woman owned stock brokerage firm in New York City in 1870. And the Wall Street Journal reported that on the day they opened, men were lined up around the block to go in and give them their business. And apparently they were able to provide a lot of good information that allowed a lot of these investors to make money.

Fred (25m 0s):

Part of the reason was because they were friends with Cornelius Vanderbilt, who was one of the railroad barons and multimillionaires back in those days. And they became very successful at it and did that for quite a while. One of the interesting things about the connection with Cornelius Vanderbilt was that Victoria Claflin's sister would go to visit him once a week at his house and provide some sort of treatment service for him. Now, don don't know what kind of treatment service she provided. It was supposed to be some kind of medical service and in return he would provide her with a lot of good stock tips.

Fred (25m 44s):

And that's the story of the Clain sisters and the first women owned stock brokerage firm.

Phil (25m 51s):

I was just wondering if there were many barriers to entry for women to get into a business like that in the 1870s.

Fred (25m 58s):

Well, I think for them, they didn't have to worry about barriers. As a matter of fact, she was, Victoria Claflin was actually the first presidential candidate. And the funny thing was she couldn't have been a president even if she had won because she wasn't 35 years old. And there's a law in the United States that you have to be at least 35 years old in order to be president of the United States. So she had an interesting background.

Phil (26m 27s):

So Jules Verne started out as a stock breaker and actually failed at that before becoming a famous author.

Fred (26m 34s):

That's right. Yeah. There's actually quite a few famous people that started out as stockbrokers. And as you mentioned, Jules Verne did try to be a, a broker and wasn't very successful at it. So he started writing books and became famous as an author. Some of the other people who are, I guess you would call them celebrities who start out as stockbrokers, include there's Bill W, he's the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. And so he doesn't, I, I understand that they don't use their last names and that's why he goes by the name Bill w Florence Chadwick.

Fred (27m 14s):

I don't know if many people know who she is, but I believe she was one of the first women, if not the first, to swim the English Channel. And from Los Angeles to Catalina, she was a famous Olympic swimmer and she eventually became a stockbroker down in San Diego. And I believe I actually met her once before she finally retired. Brian Dennehy, who's a famous actor, also started out as a stockbroker for those of you that ever watched the Leave It to Beaver TV show from many years ago. There was a character on there named Lumpy Rutherford, and his real name was Frank Bank and he actually became a bond broker in Los Angeles.

Fred (27m 58s):

And then of course Martha Stewart. I'm sure a lot of people have heard about Martha Stewart. She actually started out as a stockbroker,

Phil (28m 7s):

A lot of crossover between entertainment and the finance industry.

Fred (28m 10s):

That's right.

Phil (28m 12s):

And I have heard of this next one, the skirt length index, but I can't remember the details of it. What, what is the skirt length index?

Fred (28m 21s):

Okay, that's a kind of a fun one. And the skirt length index basically says if the hems of women's skirts are low close to the ground, then it means the stock market's gonna go down if the hem of the skirts goes up and the higher up it goes, the more likely that the stock market is going to to go up. And so back in the 1920s, well prior to the 1920s, women wore very long skirts down to the floor. But during the roaring twenties when we had the flappers, the, the skirt length went up to knee length and that's when the stock market started to really take off in the the roaring twenties.

Fred (29m 10s):

And then around 19 28, 19 29, the skirt length started to drop again. And of course we had the crash in 1929 and then skirts stayed below the knees for a long time through the fifties and then around the sixties it went from calf length to above the knees. And at that time the skirt lengths were moving You know way up and the stock market was moving up with it. And then in the seventies we went back to the MIDI dresses and the ankle length dresses.

Fred (29m 50s):

And then the mar stock market crashed in the 19 73 74 era. And then since that time, the lengths have moved back up, but then they've moved down and now they seem to be all over the place. So I don't think we can really tell anything these days from skirt links anymore. But historically it's kind of,

Phil (30m 13s):

They're confused as the market is.

Fred (30m 14s):

That's right. Historically, it's kind of interesting to look at that, but these days it you, you can't really tell 'cause the links are all over.

Phil (30m 26s):

Investing in shares can be fun, but the paperwork isn't. My investing's been transformed since using Sharesight, the best portfolio tracking tool for investing. My portfolios are on Sharesight and whenever I buy or sell, the trades are automatically recorded. I can see the dividends I'm receiving And, it helps me to work out. My asset allocation share site are extending a special offer to listeners of this podcast, four months free on an annual premium plan. There's a seven day free trial where you can experience the full power of share site portfolio management. Go to sharesight.com/stocksforbeginners and sign up now for a free trial before taking advantage of four free months. That's sharesight.com/stocksforbeginners.

Phil (31m 10s):

So my next bullet point is the first marijuana stock And, I'm assuming this is not a recent thing that it most really goes back to the days when there are a lot of what are now prohibited drugs in many mainstream products.

Fred (31m 25s):

That's right, yes. This actually, this company was selling T H C, which is the primary ingredient in marijuana tetrahydrocannabinol back in 1985. And the company was UniMed Pharmaceuticals And. it was sold as an appetite stimulant and antiemetic to prevent throwing up. And they sold it for many years. The company was eventually taken over by ve, which is a, I believe it's a Belgium company and which is still publicly traded, although I don't think it's really traded here in the United States.

Fred (32m 8s):

Maybe over the counter It is, and that was actually the, the first seller of a marijuana extract. And a lot of people didn't even know that this company was even around or that it even did this. Of course, these days in the, the United States, marijuana is legal in more than half the states, even recreationally. And this kinda leads to something else, the the first medical marijuana company publicly traded is a company called Medical Marijuana Incorporated. and that company has an interesting bit of trivia that company's stock certificates were actually made with marijuana, actually made with hemp.

Fred (32m 53s):

And hemp comes from the marijuana plant. And every time, whenever I give a presentation to people, And I mention this company's stock certificate, they say, well, can you roll it up and roll up the stock certificate and smoke it? And and I'd say, well, yeah, but then you'd lose the certificate. But I think they had so much of a demand.

Phil (33m 16s):

That's a good idea though for a,

Fred (33m 18s):

Yeah,

Phil (33m 20s):

That's a good idea for a company though, is to make stock certificate rolling papers for joints.

Fred (33m 26s):

That's right. But I, I think the demand was, there you

Phil (33m 30s):

Go. There's a business idea straight for you.

Fred (33m 33s):

Yeah, the, so

Phil (33m 35s):

I don't think you mentioned the year of that, those companies when they were trading.

Fred (33m 42s):

Oh, well the UniMed, when they started selling t H C was back in 1985, medical marijuana was just about the time that it was legalized in California, which was several years ago. I don't remember the exact year. And since then they've legalized recreational marijuana in California. But for those of you that want to get that stock certificate from Medical Marijuana Incorporated, they unfortunately, they no longer issue that certificate. I think too many people were just You know buying a few shares just to have it and maybe spoke at one of these days.

Phil (34m 23s):

That's a good story. So Fred, you've got a long history of experience in the stock market and investing someone who's listening to the podcast, who's becoming interested in investing for the first time, what's one piece of advice that you'd like to share with them?

Fred (34m 37s):

Well, I believe in the barbell theory of investing. And for those listeners that aren't familiar with it, it's where you have some really conservative investments that you invest for the long term and then you have the other half where you do your trading, you invest in the speculative items and that type of thing. And I've been doing that for many years and it's worked out well. The only thing you have to keep in mind is your long-term investments. They're better off kept in a separate, a separate portfolio or separate account, And, I. Try not to even look at those investments and try not to put your long-term investments in your trading account.

Fred (35m 21s):

I've made that mistake a couple of times. And then you look at it as a trade and you see it go down a little And, it stresses you out because it's dragging down your trading portfolio. You just have to, whatever you're investing in for the long term, you really need to keep that separate You know, forget it even exists. And then do all your speculation and your speculation account.

Phil (35m 44s):

You mentioned 50 50, but often people think of the barbell approach as possibly being more like an 80 20, 70 30 kind of arrangement as well.

Fred (35m 53s):

Depends on your risk tolerance and You know how much risk you're willing to take. It may depend on how much money do you have to invest. If you have You know $10,000 versus $1,000 versus a hundred thousand dollars You know it could be a little bit different. For me personally, and I'm not saying this is a recommendation, but I'd say maybe 10% is speculative and the rest is long term. But when I was much younger it was more like 50 50. And when you're real young, if you lose half your money and the speculation, then You know you still have many years to build that back up.

Fred (36m 38s):

So I would strongly recommend that you kinda look at what risk you wanna take, how much money you're willing to risk. And if you're young You know, try 50 50 if it stresses you out at night and cut it down to 30% of your total portfolio or 10%.

Phil (36m 56s):

So tell us about the Wall Street News Network, antiques doc certificates, and all of your activities so listeners can find out more about you.

Fred (37m 4s):

Okay. Well Wall Street News Network is a website that I started many years ago. Actually, it had a different name. When I first started it was called Stalker Blog and it's kind of a play on the word of stalker. Somebody who Stocks Stocks s the, yeah, stalking Stocks. Anyway, I eventually changed the name to Wall Street News Network and have been doing it for many years. And basically what I try to do is I try to come up with more narrower industries and what Stocks are participants in those industries, whether it's companies that make chocolate or companies that are in the wine industry or artificial intelligence You know what are the pure plays in those various types of industries.

Fred (37m 57s):

I don't make any recommendations. I just try to provide information on the Stocks that are available and give enough information to kind of get the reader started on doing their own research and determine on their own whether they want to go into any or all of those. Stocks And. I. Also every month include Stocks that are going ex-dividend. So some investors like to do the buying dividend game where if the stock drops enough prior to the X dividend date, they buy the stock and then as the stock approaches the X dividend date, it tends to go back up.

Fred (38m 38s):

And then of course on the X dividend date, all things being equal, the stock does drop by the amount of the dividend, but hopefully it hasn't dropped more than the purchase price. So they're able to collect that dividend, sell the stock, and basically be out of that stock so they're out of their risk, but collect the dividend. So that's basically, oh by the way, it's a free site. Oh, I do put out a newsletter twice a month. There's no charge to go on the site. You don't even have to log in if you don't want, but I strongly recommend that if you do go on the site, please sign up for the free newsletter. There's no charge at all.

Fred (39m 20s):

It's a once a month thing. I don't run any ads on the newsletter, And. it has links to various articles in the site and and so forth.

Phil (39m 29s):

And from my little bit of research about you and reading the blog, there's some very interesting and valuable information there, which you're providing absolutely free.

Fred (39m 38s):

That's right. No cost at all. No need to even log into the site and it's all, all there for you.

Phil (39m 45s):

A public service announcement for the finance industry.

Fred (39m 49s):

Yes. And my website is antique Stocks dot com. It's the quickest way to get there, And. it has a little bit of basic information, and if you have any Stocks that You know maybe you inherited and you wanna find out if they have collectible value, then all it can let You know, You know at no charge, even if there is a collectible value. And if I have any interest in buying them, if you want me to actually research the stock certificate to see if there's any trading or redemption value, there is a fee for that. But other than that, if you just want to know if it's collectible or not, I can let You know.

Phil (40m 27s):

Fantastic. Fred, Fuld, I've really enjoyed this conversation. Thank you very much for joining me today.

Fred (40m 33s):

Well, thank you for having me. I really enjoyed being here.

Chloe (40m 36s):

Thanks for listening to Stocks for Beginners. If you enjoy listening, please take a moment to rate or review in your podcast player or tell a friend who might want to learn more about investing for their future.

Stocks for Beginners is a production of Finpods Pty Ltd. The advice shared on Stocks for Beginners is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. Stocks for Beginners exists purely for educational and entertainment purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Philip Muscatello and Finpods Pty Ltd are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708, AFSL - 451289.