My best investment

Five years and counting

Five years ago this month, shortly before the world was plunged into the COVID-19 disaster, I decided that Costco was a business I wanted to own a piece of. The price for a share of stock in those days was upwards of $300 which—then as now—is significantly more than most other stock shares cost. But I charged ahead and purchased two shares with funds in my 401K account. For the sum of $600 and change, I became part owner of COST (that’s the stock symbol for Costco).

It wasn’t long afterward that everyone was forced into their homes to avoid the global pandemic. The panic buying of toilet paper, cleaning supplies, rice, and many other items that it seemed wise to hoard in large quantities seemed to take place at Costco more than at other retailers, which meant higher sales and thus higher stock prices. Every time I went to Costco and spent hundreds of dollars—and there were many such times—it softened the blow a little bit, knowing that I was also helping to boost their sales.

Having a Costco membership simplifies buying gas, too. With a Costco card, prices at the pump are less to begin with, and I get a cashback bonus at the end of the year which adds up to something like $100 or more. So I get a couple of tankfuls of gas on them each year, while driving up sales and helping to raise the stock value in some tiny way, as well. I can’t think of a better situation than that.

The acquisition of more shares over the years—although at prices higher than the original $300something share price that I first bought it at—have always resulted in a net gain in value. Buying a stock—or any investment, really—in the hope that it goes up and not down is the first order of business, and Costco has succeeded beyond my expectations on that front. It’s now upward of $1,000 a share as I type this out five years after that initial purchase, a price which would have scared me away entirely back then, but makes me glad today that I took the risk back in those pre-COVID days.

The company’s vocal commitment to diversity programs, despite strong arm attempts from those who see such practices as constituting a threat, have put it in the crosshairs of red state attorneys generals. There’s even a chance it could bring litigation against it from the newly-confirmed Attorney General in the Trump White House. And if it should come to that, I’d proudly say—as I recently did in similar litigation against my home state of Illinois—bring it on. Right makes might, as Abraham Lincoln once said, and Costco is certainly in the right to value having a diverse workforce.

Shopping at a Costco warehouse feels like what America should be—bustling, inclusive, and filled with opportunities for those who make the decision to shop there. If someone doesn’t like that, they don’t have to shop there. But those who embrace their philosophies and purchase a membership to spend their money there have found a bulwark against Trump’s efforts to remake America into something that rolls back the last half century of social progress. And if that helps to make my retirement a bit better (when and if that should ever occur), then all the better.

Thanks for reading, as always.