Workbytes did something last week that will keep us on the path to a happy retirement.
We bought a new pair of shoes.
Regular readers will recall that about a year ago we embarked on a revolutionary investment strategy aimed solely at companies that produce the products or brands we eat, drink, wear, apply, insert (contact lenses, weirdo) or otherwise use on a regular basis.
We developed this approach because, like many of you, we worry about how we will feed, clothe and medicate ourselves in old age (assuming, of course, we never manage to get on “Deal or No Deal”).
Sure, we contribute to a 401(k), but we never know if our hard-earned money belongs in the Fidelity Mutual Mixed Balanced Equity fund or the Balanced Equity Mutual Mixed Liberty fund. And we still haven’t figured out what that blasted little “k” stands for, or why they put it in parentheses in the first place.
The whole thing seems like a such a crapshoot. Much like Social Security, which studies show will account for 73 percent of the average person’s retirement income, but only if the government first raises the retirement age to 106.
So Workbytes decided – 485 days ago, to be exact – that we would put our money where our mouth is. And where our hands, and feet and eyes are. We would set aside a small amount of cash to invest in the products we buy and use daily.
We began to assemble an investment portfolio as soon as the alarm clock (Sony: SNE) went off the next morning. We made a pot of coffee (Kraft Foods; KFT), flipped on the television (Toshiba: TOSBF), and grabbed the morning paper (Gannett: GCI). By the time we got dressed (PERY; PVH) we had used a variety of other products from CL, BOL, PFE, LLY and PG (Charmin Ultra, if you’re wondering).
We narrowed the list of companies to 10, found an online broker, and ponied up $412.81 for one share of each.
Since then we have tried to persuade anyone and everyone we know – relatives, friends, co-workers – to purchase products from companies in the Workbytes portfolio. This worked surprisingly well when a colleague wanted a beer (BUD). Mom, however, has never been happy with the Fruit of the Loom sport-cut boxers we talked her into.
Within three days, we were up $2. A month later, the portfolio had grown to $425 and change. In the second quarter, it not only outpaced the company 401(k) plan but performed better than the Dow Jones industrial average and the Average Jones Industrial Dow.
Then came the new shoes, along with a share of the company (WEYS). A day later: Cha-CHING. We were up another 45 cents.
At last check, our $412.81 was worth $455.12.
It’s obvious that Workbytes is on to something big here, something that can reinvent retirement planning and turn the financial world on its ear (which is nowhere near as painful as it sounds).
Maybe, just maybe, Workbytes can even help cure Generation Y, the group born from 1980 and beyond, of its investment apathy.
Experts say too many young workers think 401(k) is some kind of run/walk. They are wary of Wall Street, passionless about investment, and 20 percent more likely than baby boomers to consider company retirement plans a “benefit of yesterday.”
Well kids, if the thought of retirement bores you, why not prepare for your future the Workbytes way?
Next time you bite into a pizza, consider an investment in the conglomerate that delivered it.
Next time you roll on some deodorant, think about buying a piece of the drug company.
And that shirt you’re wearing? Well, it’s just plain ugly. But you get the picture.
Follow the Workbytes plan and you, too, can forget all about that boring financial planning stuff until retirement arrives – which will be in about 80 years.
Your golden years will be happy, secure and comfortable.
