250 | Money Lessons From My Grandparents | Anne Zonca

<ul> <li>Once you realize financial independence is possible for you, how do you ensure the money lessons you've learned are consistently passed down to future generations?</li> <li>Anne Zonca's family is well ahead of their time when it comes to financial independence. When many are focused on second-generation FI, Anne herself is third generation FI working to pass along her family's lessons to her own children.</li> <li>Children of the Great Depression, Anne's grandparents were deeply effected by having lived through it. Starting out in marriage with literally nothing, they worked hard and saved so that they never had to live through a financial situation like that again. Understanding that saving was not enough, they began investing in the stock market in the 1950s.</li> <li>With a formal education, her grandfather stayed informed with the Wall Street Journal and sharing stock tips with his brother. They invested in individual stocks, picking ones they felt were stable, like oil and gas, or utility companies. For stocks that paid dividends, they reinvested the dividends. with this strategy, they were able to build a substantial amount of wealth.</li> <li>Anne's mom recounted stories about how her grandfather got into stock investing, but Anne became more aware of her grandparents investing prowess around 14 when they began gifting stock to their children and grandchildren.</li> <li>While the value of the gifted stock wasn't necessarily a large sum, it was substantial considering they were regularly gifting to 4 children and 11 grandchildren.</li> <li>The gifted stocks were paying decent dividends, but rather than receive a lot of checks for small amounts, the dividends were all reinvested.</li> <li>Though the growth on the stocks gifted to Anne was not enough for her to reach FI, she definitely had a heart start and was learning about stocks and investing at a young age.</li> <li>Her grandparents gifting stock to the family was a win-win scenario as her grandparents did not have to sell the stock and pay capi