Investing 101

Stock vs Stuff: What If You’d Invested In These Companies Instead of Buying Their Products?

Written by Chelsea Dehner
Published Nov 11, 2010
1 min read
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Ever thought what your life (and personal finances) would be like today if 20 years ago, instead of buying a bunch of what you thought then were must-have items you had invested in the companies that manufacture them? After all, stuff in general (and excluding collectibles) tends to lose its value over time, while if you’re lucky, the companies you invest in can appreciate quite nicely. You could have done without an Apple computer back in 1990, right? Consider this: if you had bought Apple Inc. (AAPL) stock instead, today you’d be rich.

Inspired by a post on KyleConroy.com, this infographic explores several “what-if” scenarios, featuring companies whose stock, in hindsight, you probably should have bought a couple of decades ago — and just so you don’t feel that bad, there are a few companies whose stock you could have just as well overlooked.

Shane Snow is founder of VisualEconomics.com and the online printing site PrintingChoice.

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