My First Share Purchase

[Sgt Pepper]

I though it would be interesting to disclose the first share you bought.

The year was 1978. I paid $200 for a Dunedin company selling shares in a Fitch Fur business. NZ Fitch Fur Ltd.
Needless to say I never saw my $200 again, it went bust !!:mad ;:

[lissica]

Freightways 3125 shares at $1.60 when they had their IPO in early 2000s. Still own them and added a few.

[Jay]

I think mine was as part of a informal share club - 4 of us put in about $200 each and bought Prime... sold that for a small profit (this is easy money:)) and then bought Chase Corp - I think we got back about $20 each.

[BeeBop]

It was either Infratil at 50c in 1997 or Guiness Peat Group at 50c at the same time - one was first the other was second but for a while they were the only shares I owned. I sold GPG at 75 I think.

[whome]

Bought Colonial Motors in 1976 as part of an Auckland University share group called MIMIC, short for Millionaires in the Making! Interesting that CM still going!

[justakiwi]

Embarrassed to say my first purchase was Brierley Investments - before the crash. Purchased with my (then) husband on the advice of a friend. Knew absolutely nothing about shares or investing. From memory it was only a couple of grand’s worth, but needless to say we lost the lot. Was never game to invest again until 2016 when I bought 1000 KFL shares. Again, on the advice of a friend, but this time I did some homework, joined ST, started my learning journey and so far, I am (hopefully) doing a much better job of it ;)

[blackcap]

Either Carter Holt Harvey, GPG Group or Brierley Investments, sometimes in the early 90's. Was rather naive as far as investing was concerned but learnt a lot since then and never looked back.

[Southern_Belle]

Flight Centre because a friend worked there. Bought 1000 shares for AUS $ 1 in the IPO and got so scared when it got to $8 I sold the lot ... been hooked on shares ever since

[janner]

Dominion Breweries. Early 60's.

On the advice of a very wealthy man. " If times are good people drink. If times are bad people drink ".
He was correct.

[dln]

Embarrassed to say my first purchase was Brierley Investments - before the crash.
Me too!
$250 of my hard earned. Thought it looked like easy money - turned out to be true, just not for me...

[Ggcc]

I believe my first purchase was when I was 27 in Skycity and the Warehouse in 2003 and GPG. The Warehouse went down, GPG went up and I had at least one share split in Skycity, which went up. I sold my first house to buy those...... Just before the big property spike.... I did get my entire OE paid for by my shares back then. I got back and got back on the property ladder at a 35%+ premium in one year.

[justakiwi]

Remember all the bonus issues? Thought they were awesome ;):laugh:


Me too!
$250 of my hard earned. Thought it looked like easy money - turned out to be true, just not for me...

[macduffy]

100 shares in Robert Holt Ltd, an obscure Hawkes Bay sawmiller, around 1960/61. That company became Carter Holt Harvey in the fullness of time, merging with Carters and Alex Harvey - itself a merger with J Gadsden, I think. I was long gone from the register by the time CHH disappeared from the NZX!

[Timesurfer]

Some shares in a new listing as recommended by Mr Richmastery Phil Jones (the name of which I just remembered - Datasquirt). Needless to say it has been numerous years before I ventured back to the stock market.

[justakiwi]

That brings back memories. My Dad was a Production Manager at Gadsdens. I have childhood memories of getting to play on the adding machines, staff Christmas party for kids and the indoor bowls alley they had in the staff cafeteria! It was Alex Harvey by the time Dad retired.


100 shares in Robert Holt Ltd, an obscure Hawkes Bay sawmiller, around 1960/61. That company became Carter Holt Harvey in the fullness of time, merging with Carters and Alex Harvey - itself a merger with J Gadsden, I think. I was long gone from the register by the time CHH disappeared from the NZX!

[petty]

Contact Energy when they IPO’d I think around 1999. On the advice of my grandfather. I was 11 at the time and bought them with the money I earned from my paper run. Sold them about a year ago so I could buy more A2 and OCA.

[percy]

Enzlon..Sometime in the 1960s.
Set up in Shannon to make nylon stockings for women.
Pantie hose came in just before they started production and they went broke.
That was the start of my downward investment journey.....lol.

[janner]

My First Share Purchase.

A simple question. With only 17 posts in reply.
Already disclosing the huge depth and experience that can be found here.

Well done Sgt Pepper.

[SCOTTY]

My first share purchase was 100 L&M Oil on a listing allocation @ 50cps. They were drilling for oil in Tasman Bay. This was about 1967. I was living in Nelson at the time and it was very exciting. The well was going down and the shares hit $3. I was still holding when the hole was dry and they dropped to 30c :( I learned some very valuable lessons from this and subsequently traded them on subsequent drills but bought on dry holes and sold when they recommenced drilling.Great fun at the time :)

[davflaws]

L&M and UEB in 1968, out to buy a house in 1973. Gave it all away to join a commune in 1980 - back in with a shareclub (MIMIC clone) with a range of shares in 1991, out to buy another house in 1994, and in again with PGW, THL, PRC (sob), MVN, and SKL in 2003.

[traineeinvestor]

As a young punter I lost about 70% of my portfolio in the 1987 crash and it's aftermath.Most of the companies I held shares in at the time didn't survive (nor did some of the brokers who touted them). That and watching a good number of people go from being moderately or even seriously wealthy to dead broke was the best financial education I could get. I'm just glad it happened to me then when the numbers were small and I would young enough to have time to recover than much later in life.

[GTM 3442]

An IPO in a thing called The Terrace Project. A Wellington property company in the mid 1980s which bought old villas on The Terrace, tidied them up, and rented them out.

The price doubled, and I sold.

Wish it was always that easy.

[ratkin]

Montana wines for .70 cents

Just because drank the product really. Turned into a good investment

[ari]

L&M and UEB in 1968, out to buy a house in 1973. Gave it all away to join a commune in 1980 - back in with a shareclub (MIMIC clone) with a range of shares in 1991, out to buy another house in 1994, and in again with PGW, THL, PRC (sob), MVN, and SKL in 2003.

Interesting to see UEB mentioned which were my first share purchase in 1968. My father knew someone who worked there and it must have been a staff issue at the time....at a very favouable price.

[CD_CHCH]

Wow reading all these posts makes me realise I'm really just a complete newcomer to the party. My first purchase was Mighty River Power (now Mercury) in the govt share float back in 2013.

[Brain]

Oil fields NL in the late seventies - it did not turn out well.

[BigBob]

Montana wines for .70 cents

Just because drank the product really. Turned into a good investment

LOL... You and me both mate.... Although I bought in when they were Corporate Investments Ltd - later changed to Montana and from memory got taken over by Allied Domecq...

Nice profit on that one and not all down hill from there... :-)

[LAC]

Was always in index funds as a teen but first individual stock I bought was RBD, can’t remember the price I paid but it was in the low $2s and sold when it hit $9s. It was the only business I understood hence I purchased. Made some silly mistakes since buyjust goes to show, buy what u understand.

[Sideshow Bob]

Wilson Neil in the late 80's. Final result was like many of that era......

They were doing many things at that stage, but the reason why I purchased them largely was because I use to get served in their liquor stores underage! :t_up:

The most solid investment criteria ever! (not) ;)

[Oliver Mander]

First time around was Feltex in the early 2000's. I actually made some $$ off it - I sold when Sam Magill said in a press conference that he "thought strategy was important". Got a bit worried with the naivity (sp) of the statement so sold up. My portfolio at the time also included NZ Finance and Blis Technology - both of which I also profited from when I sold up to fund a house. BLT's price at the time (I think) was around $0.24.

Second time around, the first purchase was (like CD-CHCH above) Mighty River and then Meridian in the gentailer floats. Have grown rapidly since.

[RGR367]

BNZ in 1987 on its IPO.
Having just arrived here 5 months early and my family has not joined me yet then, I basically used a month salary savings as an expensive sort of tuition fee to learn the Market.
It took 7 years after that for me to try another punt/stock.

[ari]

Wow reading all these posts makes me realise I'm really just a complete newcomer to the party. My first purchase was Mighty River Power (now Mercury) in the govt share float back in 2013.

And making me feel old.....before crash was working in Queen St AKL and would walk up to Stock Exchange twice a day to watch boards......or was that just the Chalkies....

[John]

Petrocorp. 1987. I was 14 then an made a tidy profit 9 months later when there was a takeover. Great way for me as a teenager to become aware of the sharemarket. Ive ensured my kids have a similar exposure as teens, they are sitting on a tidy amount of MCY and merdian that were purchased back when they were first listed. Hopefully in years to come it encourages them to consider investing in the stockmarket.

[Onion]

I bought a few hundred dollars worth of Renouf Corp in either 1985 or 1986. Sold them to pay for a $1200 one-way flight to London (about cheapest flight available in 1986!).

So I didn't own them in 1987 when they lost shareholders a bit of money. I found this abstract (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585209500000039) online:


In this paper, we examine the role of financial reporting in the rise and fall of Renouf Corporation and of Judge Corporation. These two New Zealand companies were nominated by The Wall Street Journal as the two worst performing shares on the Australasian sharemarket of 1987.

[silu]

Mine was Cultus Petroleum based on a friend's suggestion. Got taken over within 12 months after purchase at double my price. Similar story with second purchase which was Fletcher Paper. Got hooked on investing ever since. Lost it all when the tech bubble burst (IT Capital, Advantage, Spectrum, Newcall anyone?) but got it back and more after realizing my sh*t did stink and I had to educate myself better.

[waikare]

For the best of my re-collection, I brought my first shares in the late 70's investing about $200.00 in each Winstone's, DB Breweries, Dalgety's (Crown I think) and 2 other that I cant recall, through the Broker's Jarden in Wellington, on their advise. Probably the top 5 companies at the time. Using part of the proceeds from my fathers estate.

[hogie]

BFW (Burger Fuel) - bought 1000 shares for $1 at the ipo jointly with my girlfriend at the time.

Split with the girlfriend and she ended up selling me her shares for 28c each. Not long after BurgerFuel announced the USA expansion and I managed to buy a whole bunch more, and sell out at approx $2.40.

Reinvested the "winnings" into FPH (Fisher and Paykel Healthcare) where I was working at the time ... pretty good start to my investing journey :)

[bull....]

as a young kid still at school i brought chase corp and lost it all in the 87 crash

[SausageDog]

First post. Fairly newbie here mine was BLT. @ 3.1c only for it to drop to 1.7c . On advice from reading this forum I doubled down at 1.7c and made good profit and free holding my original purchase late last year at 4.7c Got the bug now, I bought BLT with my annual bonus 3 years ago and was interested in them as I grow their K12 &M18 probiotics for them as part of my job so had confidence in them.

[Beagle]

New Zealand Oil and Gas in the early 80's sometime. Paid about 80 cents if my memory serves me correctly...there were some oil "shows" in a well they were drilling a week later and it shot up to $1.40. I remember thinking this whole "investment thing" is pretty cool. Years later, Ariadne, Judge Corp, Chase and others were not cool.

[steveb]

Dominion Breweries. Early 60's.

On the advice of a very wealthy man. " If times are good people drink. If times are bad people drink ".
He was correct.
In the 80's I bought Bond Brewing.I did get some of my money back many years later,but I do remember quite a good quote at the time that Alan Bond had done the impossible twice, winning the america's cup for the first time in 132 years and going broke selling beer to australians!

[bonne vie]

First was Kingfish when it listed. Still hold and happy

[suse]

Great thread - a lot of companies not around anymore! First share I ever bought was Tawana Resources, (an aussie diamond mining co) a long time ago on advice from a colleague who was a major shareholder, I think I spent $1k. Not sure what really happened, they started off well and then it just fell away to nothing. I just forgot about them to be honest, and by the time I decided to check up on them again some time later they were worth about $50. Lesson in that is always keep an eye on your investment. Got into buying shares again about 5 years ago after receiving an inheritance and have been keeping a very close eye ever since - some very good buys, some not so good, some shockers! :)

[CROESUS U.T.]

Beginning of the 80's had a early stage company with good cashflow so would buy Neil Housing shares as customers paid us, and then sell a few weeks later when it was time to pay creditors. Worked well at the time when NZ built houses in quantity and Neild seemed on a one way trajectory.

[unhuman]

Wow reading all these posts makes me realise I'm really just a complete newcomer to the party. My first purchase was Mighty River Power (now Mercury) in the govt share float back in 2013.

Same but with the Genesis IPO.

[andrewfreestuff]

Frucor. I was just out of uni and everyone, and i mean EVERYONE, i knew was drinking this new fangled drink called V like it was crack. Prior to that I never thought shares were something that I could ever be involved in, they were something that only clever business people understood about. It sparked my interest in share trading.

[Entrep]

VIKING CAPITAL. Investment went to basically zero.

Now called Investment Research Group / General Capital.

[youngatheart]

I bought Telstra IPO shares in 1993? As a 21st birthday present to myself, lol.

[macduffy]

Enzlon..Sometime in the 1960s.
Set up in Shannon to make nylon stockings for women.
Pantie hose came in just before they started production and they went broke.
That was the start of my downward investment journey.....lol.

Ah, Enzlon. Brought back a few hazy memories. An American, Baron Ralph von Kohorn emigrated to NZ and built the factory with what was said to be a second-hand plant from the USA. I think the company was initially called "von Kohorn of New Zealand "? Like you, percy, I had a few shares, convertible spec prefs, I think, as well as ords. In those days, I was an incorrigible small-time subscriber to many of the floats (IPO's).

:)

[percy]

All very hazy to me too.
Then I seem to remember buying M O'Brien a ChCh shoe manufacturer.Can't remember how that worked out ,although I learnt never to buy any company that deals in shoes..
Then read Edwards Magee book on technical analyst.Spent hours reading it, and on seeing Arthur Ellis and co's must buy chart I brought some.
Proved very early on that technical analyst does not always work for dummies.!

[macduffy]

O'Brien's did very well under import licensing restrictions - every rugby player, at least the schoolboys, wore O'Brien's boots in the 50's and 60's!
Rogernomics put paid to that - and a lot of other protected NZ manufacturers.

:mellow:

[stoploss]

Ah, Enzlon. Brought back a few hazy memories. An American, Baron Ralph von Kohorn emigrated to NZ and built the factory with what was said to be a second-hand plant from the USA. I think the company was initially called "von Kohorn of New Zealand "? Like you, percy, I had a few shares, convertible spec prefs, I think, as well as ords. In those days, I was an incorrigible small-time subscriber to many of the floats (IPO's).

:)

Surely German with that name ...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/obituaries/4600227/Strictly-first-class-for-the-flying-German-baron

[macduffy]

Surely German with that name ...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/obituaries/4600227/Strictly-first-class-for-the-flying-German-baron

Yes, indeed. The nylon factory plant, at least, was American!

[Soolaimon]

Nelson Sea Products or some name like that in 1965. It was headed by a Sir Peter Phips so I thought my 25 quid was safe. Wrong. On recovering I went into UEB, Farmers Trading, Forest Products, Odlins, Dominion Breweries etc. and have done ok since. Only thing I am cautious about now is "Sir". Remembering Sir Robt Jones, Sir Ron B. and Sir G Douglas et. all.

[macduffy]

Nelson Sea Products or some name like that in 1965. It was headed by a Sir Peter Phips so I thought my 25 quid was safe. Wrong. On recovering I went into UEB, Farmers Trading, Forest Products, Odlins, Dominion Breweries etc. and have done ok since. Only thing I am cautious about now is "Sir". Remembering Sir Robt Jones, Sir Ron B. and Sir G Douglas et. all.

Fair comment, Soolaimon, but at least Sir Peter Phips/Phipps? was a retired admiral - so he knew a bit about boats, if not about catching and selling fish!

[Lease]

My dim memory tell it should be Fletcher Forest at around 2000. Made loss:(

[Jim]

Bought some Air New Zealand A shares (for New Zealanders only) in the late 80s. Sold it made some coins and bought some AIR NZ B shares. Nearly lost everything when AIR NZ went into financial difficulties

[ratkin]

LOL... You and me both mate.... Although I bought in when they were Corporate Investments Ltd - later changed to Montana and from memory got taken over by Allied Domecq...

Nice profit on that one and not all down hill from there... :-)

same, forgot they were called that. Made it my theme for a while, buying drink companies as were easy to understand. Charlies, Frucor, Lion etc did well out of all of them.

[Jay]

Yes also had Charlies & Montana - think I sold out of Montana just after it changed to Montana or it may have been when it was taken over, in any event, nearly doubled my very modest amount invested.

[Valiant]

Seems like an age but it really isn't, bought a modest amount of SUM back in early 2016 for $4.20. Have been in and out several times since and continue to hold. Have thoroughly enjoyed the learning experiences investing in shares has provided since then.

[CROESUS U.T.]

Surely German with that name ...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/obituaries/4600227/Strictly-first-class-for-the-flying-German-baron

Believe that they were a Jewish family and estate confiscated during the war is the site of large VW plant. Reparations were underway some years ago when I heard the story from a relative. A successful outcome to the action would no doubt have proved at least a ten-bagger plus

[iceman]

I'm pretty sure mine was Metlifecare in the IPO in 1994 if my memory serves me right

[mshierlaw]

My wife worked @ Cadbury & got a decent sized bundle through the staff share scheme in the late 1990's. Taken over some time later, good result for us.

[turnip]

I bought my first shares in the 1998 Auckland Airport float, and still have them.

[clearasmud]

I bought my first shares in the 1998 Auckland Airport float, and still have them.

In 1988 bought Capital markets,Robt Jones Investments and Brierleys totaling $20,000 plus brokerage $800 from Were and Co
Sold all in 1996 for $1500 to pay for a 1/3rd carot engagement ring!

[blackcap]

In 1988 bought Capital markets,Robt Jones Investments and Brierleys totaling $20,000 plus brokerage $800 from Were and Co
Sold all in 1996 for $1500 to pay for a 1/3rd carot engagement ring!

You got to love the brokerage charges in those days!!

[tim23]

1984 Farmers Trading Co 100 @ $4.50

[peat]

I started trading in 1986 with a purchase of Anzon Investments Limited - they were a subsidiary of Chase Corp.
I doubled my money and bailed. It was my last year at university and I remember dining out a bit more than I might have otherwise :)

[Manukatana]

My first share was 'Off-market' shares I bought on PledgeMe for Parrotdog Brewry. I paid $1 per share. It looks like their revenue is expanding.. will I ever be able to sell them for more than $1 per share..?

[stoploss]

My first share was 'Off-market' shares I bought on PledgeMe for Parrotdog Brewry. I paid $1 per share. It looks like their revenue is expanding.. will I ever be able to sell them for more than $1 per share..?
I think they had another capital raising at a higher price than the first . The Parrot Dog bar is very busy at Lyall Bay , providing you maximum returns on what’s brewed .
I think you should be right .

[DazRaz]

My first was 1986 with Cashmere Pacific - a goat breeding company. Sold my shares 6 months later for 3x cost. Pure dumb luck. Had no idea what I was doing.

Mainly been in funds since.

[RTM]

interesting thread. Lots of old memories, thanks.
Three shares bought on the same day faithfully recorded in my “Statham Caesar Jackson & Co Portfolio Book.
Date: 24 April 81
1000 UEB Industries Ltd. $1.10
700 Fisher & Paykel Industries. $2.40
500. Waitaki NZR. $2.23

Sold them all for a combined profit of 426+533+241.7 = 1200.7 a year or so later. I imagine I was pretty happy with myself.
Then progressed to Bendon, National Insurance, Allied Farmers, Arthur Ellis in ‘81. Commercial Securities, New Zealand Property Trust in 83. Chase and Equitycorp in 84, :scared:Oil Fields 83/84 ( Did this become NZO ? still hold) Brierly in 87. Brokers look like Morrow Benjamin & Buttle Wilson.

[davflaws]

My first was 1986 with Cashmere Pacific - a goat breeding company. Sold my shares 6 months later for 3x cost. Pure dumb luck. Had no idea what I was doing.

.
The 87 crash destroyed the Goat industry. It still hasn't recovered and with pastoral farming out of climate change favour, it perhaps never will.

[DazRaz]

The 87 crash destroyed the Goat industry. It still hasn't recovered and with pastoral farming out of climate change favour, it perhaps never will.

Like all the farming fads, the money was in the breeding stock supplying all the latecomers who then can't make money out of it. The real warning sign was when one of the directors sold his personal goat breeding business to the company. I had no idea that this was a major warning sign.

[Jaa]

My first share was Contact Energy after Dad the electrical engineer made sure the whole family got the maximum allocation in the 1999 float. It has under-performed over 20 years as Origin Energy bled it dry and its assets like Sparky and the New Plymouth gas storage facility have not been the best in the industry.

Lesson learned, for long term returns always hold the lowest cost producer in an oligopolistic market like electricity - ie Meridian.

Of course the industry is really a natural monopoly and thus should never have been privatised. Dad hated the reforms "Mad Max" Bradford introduced and predicted what has followed.

First purchase with my own money was a couple of dual listed British investment companies in 2006, JPJ and TEM which actively pick Japanese and emerging market companies respectively. They both went ok but nothing amazing.

First individual company was FPH in 2007 which has has done incredibly well, Sharesight says 51% per year! Remember it being expensive then too! Sold out of JPJ when they delisted from the NZX but still hold the rest. My problem has always been selling rather than holding.

[Grimy]

Although I started investing around 1985-86 I can only find my hard copy records back to 1993 (the year my son was born, so perhaps I started taking investing a little more seriously....).
Mostly I was invested in funds, but two shares I owned were Wilson Neill and Environ- Wilson Neill I think ended up being taken over by Boags Brewery in Tasmania and Environ just disappeared down the toilet..... As has been mentioned earlier in this thread, that put me off anything owned or promoted by a "Sir" or a politician.
Some of the funds at the time I used were; ANZ Growth Trust, Prudential NZ Emerging Companies (I think that was Carmel Fisher at the time), Jardine Fleming Taipan Trust, Rothschild Smaller Companies Fund (that did so well over the years), Bankers Trust International NZ Property Syndications and NZ Rural Property Trust.
There were Platinum futures and Currency plays that ended horribly, but overall I can't complain.
Just don't start me on the Finance Companies of the GFC.....
I now invest directly in shares more than funds, but still have what I consider a nice balance.