Got some great advice a long time ago. In a nutshell, avoid shoulda, coulda, woulda. As in, I shoulda bought Apple stock when it was $12 a share, pre-split.
But it is fun to imagine what a $10,000 investment back at the IPO would be worth now (by my math, about $4.3 bmillion).
Gotta love this Steve Jobs quote, courtesy of MacDailyNews:
I saw a lot of other people at Apple, especially after we went public, how it changed them. A lot of people thought they had to start being rich. A few people went out and they bought Rolls-Royces, they bought homes, and their wives got plastic surgery. I saw these people who were really nice, simple people turn into these bizarre people. I made a promise to myself: I said, ‘I’m not going to let this money ruin my life.
You know, my main reaction to this money thing is that it’s humorous, all the attention to it, because it’s hardly the most insightful or valuable thing that’s happened to me in the past 10 years.
I was worth about over $1 million when I was 23, and over $10 million when I was 24, and over $100 million when I was 25, and it wasn’t that important. I never did it for the money.
UPDATE:
First things first, wow was my math off!!! Check the comments for the details, but $4.3 million, not $43 billion. But still.
Also, with thanks to @moeskido, here’s a link to an article about Michael Dell walking back that “shut down the company, return the money” comment.
$100 million by 25? Pshaw.
“Listen, Hawk, this might be hard to believe, but I’m just a regular Joe. I just want to be happy. And happiness comes from the achievement of goals. It’s just that when you’ve made your first billion by the age of nineteen, it’s hard to keep coming up with new ones. But now, finally, I’ve got myself a new goal… World domination!”
I got a settlement from Prudential Insurance for $7,000 back then.
You just officially ruined my day.
Something is wrong with that math somewhere. I’m not sure it’s up 43,000%. That would mean you’d own about 5% of the equity. I don’t think you could have bought anywhere near that % ownership for $10,000 at the IPO
It makes for a good headline anyway.
I wouldn’t trust your math – you’re out by a few orders of magnitude.
Scale it down to percentages we all grasp – 43% of $10,000 would be $4,300 (easy); 430% of $10K would be $43,000 (again, most of us grok that).
Add two more zeros to that (430% to 43000%) and we’d be at $4,300,000.
So – nice return, for sure, but not insane over-the-top-filthy-stinkin’-rich.
I bought it back then and did very well with it over many years and many cycles. I’m still holding some although not as much. It bought our house, cars, and more. I still very much believe in the company and their products.