With Mickey Mouse By My Side

The fan favorites of the Disney comic universe are all gathered here: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Bambi, and Winnie the Pooh. Amidst this colorful cast, Walter Elias “Walt” Disney smiles in black and white. A stock certificate that deserves a frame. A beauty to behold and to touch – not digital but made of paper. 
 
On May 15, 1992, I bought this share in my father’s name and had it delivered to me. What an investment it turned out to be: the amount I put in back then is now worth more than 10 times as much. Well, not quite – you’d have to reinvest all the dividends to get that “total return”. The share price alone has “merely” increased ninefold - without dividends, that’s about 7 percent per year.

Of course, we all know that past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. This warning also applies to Disney shares, as the last three years have shown all too cleary. The share price took a nosedive while the US stock market was soaring. 

Still, over the past three decades, you could have done a lot worse than 8% per year including dividends. The real challenge is sticking it out for that long. Especially during tough times like the company is facing now. After all, no one can guarantee that things will get better again.

Nobody sells a physical stock certificate, so I was forced to take a long-term view. Unfortunately, I only bought a single share – a bad investment. Because when it’s raining gold, you should be out there with a barrel, not with a teaspoon from a dollhouse kitchen. 

In my defense: I didn’t know any of this back in 1992. I bought the Disney share purely for its looks, not because I was expecting it to rain gold. A stroke of luck, as it turned out over the years. That golden boy Mickey Mouse just kept on playing, never asking for a raise. 

At least now I have a good story to tell. One about long-term thinking and all the many benefits it brings – and not just when it comes to investing.