Slow news day? The lead story on CBS11’s 10:00 PM news was a line to see Santa closing early.
I have no idea how much I’ll blog for the rest of the year. I’m not returning to work until the start of the new year, and with the time off, I might just avoid being online as much as possible.
DaughterGeeding’s school reported a case of mumps yesterday.
The bathtub the kids use has some moldy caulk that I can never get out. But I tried the trick of mixing bleach and baking soda into a thick paste and slathering it on. But here’s the kicker, I placed some plastic wrap over the top of the paste to keep the bleach from drying out. I left it on for about four hours and when I scrubbed it off, no more mold.
I never heard of the movie La La Land until two days ago and now it seems like it’s the greatest movie ever conceived.
It’s the weekend before Christmas, which means I’ll be traveling to East Texas to celebrate Christmas with WifeGeeding’s family.
When Ty Cobb died in 1961, his investment portfolio included lucrative early stakes in companies like Coca-Cola and General Motors that were large enough to be worth the modern equivalent of hundreds of millions and potentially billions of dollars today.
Ty became a very early investor in Coca-Cola and even a member of the company’s Board of Directors. His initial Coke investment started with 300 shares, twenty years later Ty’s stake in Coke had grown to more than 24,000 shares. He believed so strongly in Coke that he also ended up purchasing three Coca-Cola bottling plants, located in Idaho, Oregon and California.
In 1924, Ty was paid $25,000 to appear in a newspaper advertisement for United Motors. As per usual, instead of pocketing the money, he used every dollar to purchase United Motors stock. United Motors was eventually bought by General Motors and Ty’s shares were converted to GM shares just as the American car industry was taking off.
A few days before his death, he checked into Emory University hospital with two bags. One bag contained personal items such as clothes and toothpaste, the other bag contained $1 million in negotiable bonds (essentially cash) and a Colt .45 pistol. At the time of his death, the value of Ty’s portfolio had grown to be worth an astounding $12.1 million. That’s equal to $97 million in 2016 inflation adjusted dollars. . . . before he died that portfolio was paying out $450,000 every quarter in dividends alone. That meant his personal net worth was growing by roughly $15 million per year (in 2016 dollars). He also owned a vast amount of real estate including more than half of what would become Lake Tahoe in Northern California.
If Ty hadn’t donated his Coca-Cola shares to charity where they were divested and distributed to the those in need, after 50 years of stock splits and compounding dividends, today his stake would be worth more than $2 billion!
Have a safe trip and a Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, Geedings. Watch the Tommy Lee Jones' movie, Cobb. It's fantastic and shows what a pathetic figure Ty Cobb was.
Merry Christmas Keith! Enjoy the time off and that great family you have!