In Focus

If I Knew Then What I Know Now

Last weekend I had a party. This is not news, Karin having a party, but this one was a little different. The party was called, "Prom Would Have Been So Much More Fun Without Our Dates." In the invitation to my high school girlfriends, I asked them to come over Saturday night, without a man, and to dress for the Prom. What you have to understand is, my girlfriends don't scoff at this kind of invitation; they run with it.

Vicki wore some gawd-awful hot pink lace gown from the 80's, Lisa's husband went so far as to get her a wrist corsage, and Ann decided to stuff a pillow under her Gunne Sac ball gown and come to our Prom 2002 pregnant.

Our real Prom was 20 years ago... but it was so much fun to pretend it was really this past Saturday. We even went so far as to hit our old drinking digs in Wisconsin. Back in 1982 the drinking age was 18 in Wisconsin, and 21 in Minnesota. Since there is only a river between us, we used to trek across it and sit in this little dive bar and order screwdrivers. We were very cool. We did the same thing this past Saturday. Nothing had changed, not even the music the band was playing. All 80's. It was déjà vu, if you didn't notice our wrinkles.

One of the conversations that came up was, "if we only knew then what we know now, what would we have done different?" Another thing you have to understand about my girlfriends is, they all have pretty happy dispositions. We all are in different situations, from income brackets to family life, relationships to occupations. The funny thing is, not many of us would have changed a thing, except for this one topic: Money. We all wished we knew then what we know now about money.

I, for one, get mad at myself when I think about it. When I graduated from high school in 1982, I knew nothing about the stock market, nothing about investing, and not a reason in the world to save a penny of what I had earned. I worked all through high school, using what money I had, to have fun. Too much fun. I know now, what I wish I knew then, that if I had invested in the stock market my money would have been much better spent. If I had taken $1,000 (which I easily could have saved if I didn't cross the state border every weekend) and invested it in the stock market, just what would it have been worth today? Let's take a look at some companies that I both knew and used in 1982 and see what my $1,000 would be worth today.

Even if I had taken my $1,000 and plunked it into an S&P 500 fund, it would be worth $10,000. That's with doing absolutely nothing, just knowing what I know now. I do know of some people who plunked their savings into a bank account. Their $1,000 is worth about $2,500 today.

Now, knowing today what I do, do I wish I would have done things differently? I still would have picked my husband Phil to go to the Prom with in 1982, I still would have spent the money to go to Florida my senior year with those same high school girlfriends, and I still would have crossed the state border for teen night in Wisconsin, just not as often. The only thing I would have done differently would be to look at the world in a whole new light. Home Depot would have been, "Wow, look at all those people flocking into the home improvement store. Hmmm… I wonder what kind of investment that would be?" H&R Block would have been, "I should take a look at this company I work for and see what kind of investment it could be." Anheuser Busch would have been, "Since I spend part of every paycheck on beer on the weekend, I might as well look at investing the other part in stock in the company. I wonder if shareholders you get discounts on 12-packs?"

The thing is, I know now. I look at the world differently today than I did 20 years ago. I also know I am going to throw another Prom party for my high school girlfriends. I'm hoping that when this subject rolls around, I'll be silent. I'm also hoping Vicki wears that same dress.

Have a great weekend!
Chick Karin, who's planning the next party