I began to write for BUYandHOLD in March 2001, when my daughter, Cora, was twelve years old. This month, she turned twenty – a full, good two decades old – and I thought I would reminisce a bit about our time together here at the Mom Chronicles. Cora is, after all, one of the reasons behind this column, as I incorporated our stock market and economics lessons into many articles for this site.

2001: In 2001, I was invested in the stock market as a day trader, living in Colorado as a single mom, and my daughter did not have an allowance. Instead, she was intent on spending as much of her divorced parents' money as possible. Since that time, we both have learned to be more frugal.

I slowly learned how to wean myself from day trading, and Cora wanted to know how quickly we would become rich by investing in the stock market the BUYandHOLD way. Considering the current market status, I'd say that getting rich over the past ten years wasn't easy. But, we learned how to roll with the punches and how to diversify. Although we're still not rich, we're happy and satisfied with our current lot in life. Those lessons on diversification were some of the most valuable lessons to learn over the past eight years, as we applied those lessons to our savings and investments as well as to life.

2002: We concentrated on learning about stock market trends and analyses, and how to conduct research for long-term investing. I also focused on marriage and money this year, as a friend of mine was getting married. I also wanted to teach my daughter about the importance of money to marriage. I think those lessons contributed to her hesitancy to commit to a boyfriend, and I'm very happy about that for now. We also learned about what Uncle Sam wanted from us, and how we could manage to lower our taxes by saving and investing in some areas (like retirement funds).

2003: Cora and I began to learn more about stock market sectors. This series of articles contributed to the best lessons we learned about diversification. It helped us understand how to look at various sectors for investing opportunities rather than concentrate on only one obsession.

It was during this year that I finalized my bachelor's degree and was accepted at another college for my master's degree. I was racking up debt, knowing all the while that Cora would need money for college, too. But, being as poor as we were, we banked on a few things for us both – scholarships based upon merit (grades and hard work) and the fact that – at that time – I wasn't making enough money to hurt our chances at achieving grants and loans. That strategy worked, surprisingly.

Oh yes, this was the year that Cora wanted to learn how to drive and get a credit card. No and no were the answers to both quests.

2004: This year, Cora wrote a paper for school on how the markets worked. She also had a class on the stock markets, and her teacher wasn't very happy at what I had to say about that class. But, I'll admit now that any teaching about the markets is better than none, even if it shows students how to day trade rather than invest for the long haul.

If you thumb through the article archives, you'll see how intent Cora and I were on scholarships and school loans this year. Not much has changed since then, which is a shame on many fronts. I feel that kids and adults in this country deserve an easier, less expensive way to obtain a higher education. Higher education still is a heavy investment, and it's one that few families can afford.

2005: Cora learned that she had been accepted at an arts boarding school for her final two years of high school – on a full scholarship – and I had achieved my master's degree, so we took our meager piggy-bank savings and went to London to stay with friends and to celebrate. We were in Euston Station on our way to Wales when the bombings occurred at King's Cross, and I think our experiences with those bombings and Cora's experiences with Katrina threw us off that year.

Cora and I learned a lot about money and politics that year, and we began to adjust how we might invest accordingly. Looking back through my articles this year, I can see we were all over the place, adjusting to life's changes. It was a huge lesson on how life experiences can color how a person invests.

2006: My daughter had learned how to drive by this point, and she did have a credit line on one of my accounts so I could help her learn how to use that card. I began to look beyond our personal finances to see how world news affected the markets...and Cora was learning right along with me, although I did not think she was interested at the time. Little did I know that she was reading my articles at boarding school...

2007: This year I was focused more on death and dying – wills, probate and more. I can see now that my obsession with death had a lot to do with Cora growing up and leaving home. This was the first year that Cora held down a full-time summer job (at a burger joint – classic teen experience!), so I was deprived of her company quite a bit. Cora and I began to focus on where she wanted to go to college so we would be ready for her big adventure in 2008.

2008: Cora graduated from boarding school and was accepted at one of the five colleges of her choice, with a healthy four-year scholarship to boot. I believe that my own college experiences and writing for BUYandHOLD influenced how we handled the college entry stress. We also learned that websites are commodities. So I sold one of my sites and used the money to make a down payment on my first home – yet another way to diversify.

Looking back over the past eight years, I can see where I've matured with my investing plans, and I also can see first-hand how Cora learned along with me with her choices. It was great looking back, as I could remember all the details that built each story written for this column. I hope, along the way, that you and your children might have learned something, too.

For instance, you may have learned from this article that my relationship with BUYandHOLD has been stable and long-lasting. With those attributes, you might think about using BUYandHOLD for your portfolio management. During unstable markets, there's nothing like BUYandHOLD's stability, user-friendly service and the trust you can build in a long-lasting relationship with this online stock brokerage.

And to my beloved daughter – happy birthday. Thank you for your assistance in this journey. I hope you have many, many more birthdays before you.

Until later,
Linda Goin