Would you invest in McDonald's?

[LoveLife]

Ok, I have no idea if this is the place to put this or not, but here goes.

Dh's grandmother gave us some stock quite a while ago. We decided that all the dividend money we received would go right back into investments, not spent. DH wants to invest in McDonalds.

We do eat there, maybe once a month or every other month. I don't really know anything about their practices besides the fact that they are like everyone else in regards to processed stuff.

They look like they have a good 10+ year average of growth besides a down time in 2003. It would be a long term investment, so I'm not worried about little hiccups.

Is this a good investment? Would you do it? Why or why not?

Thanks everyone!

[tonyarn]

I wouldn't now simply because there are some groups who have just entered into a McDonald's boycott within the past 2 weeks...not sure yet how this could hurt them as it is so recent. HTH!

[ShaggyDaddy]

Generally investing in a single stock is gambling. There are lots of people who make money gambling, they are professionals and that is all they do.... or they are just lucky.

Investing in an index fund or some other kind of mutual is long-term investment for someone who is not a professional investor.

If you are looking for a stable long-term investment, then there is no single stock that fits that as well as a fund would.

[AllyRae]

McD's is one of those companies that will likely be around for a very long time. However, the price of McD's stock is probably pretty expensive, and thus you would not be able to get more than a couple shares, unless you had a lot of money to invest.

In this economy, it would probably be a good time to buy though--most people are pulling out and so stocks are falling--you'll probably see a good return in a couple years when the market turns back around, although early on you will likely see a loss.

I personally would prefer to invest in an up and coming company. But McD's is probably a pretty safe investment--I don't think McD's will crumble and go bankrupt any time soon.

[Knittin' in the Shade]

I wouldn't, not for any "financial" reason (meaning, I don't particularly thinkt he stock will tank or anything) but because I have a personal policy not to invest in companies whose practices/business I don't support, and McD's defintiely falls intot hat category. They serve crap food, which furthers the obesity problems in this country, and they fully support (and benefit from) the CAFO's (confined animal feeding operations) in this country, and those are two things I really don't want my money supporting.

[LoveLife]

Thanks for the advice. We are acutally already investing in a couple of mutual funds. This is definitely not retirement money or anything like that. Its just a bit extra that we tend to reinvest into different stocks/funds/ whatever we need to diversify our portfolio at the time.

I had no idea about the whole protest thing going on!

Thanks for the info about CAFO's, etc. I'm just starting to learn about them and large industrialization of our food, etc.

[llamalluv]

I think I do, but I own about 0.00002% of a share of stock in my mutual fund.

And that's the only way I would invest in stocks - mutual funds.

[Logan's Mom]

I may through a mutual fund, but any other way I don't/wouldn't.

[abi&ben'smom]

My dh really likes the investing website The Motley Fool (www.fool.com). They have a lot of good advice about specific companies.

[llamalluv]

Originally Posted by abi&ben'smom

My dh really likes the investing website The Motley Fool (www.fool.com). They have a lot of good advice about specific companies.

You'll find that the Fools are actually split. Many of them (like me) advocate extreme diversification through mutual funds, and others like DRiPs and single stocks. (It's that way about everything, though, even cats vs. dogs and kids vs. no kids.)

[AlbertaJes]

My grandparents bought me 4 shares of MCD stock when I was about 8. It's split once since then, so now I have 8 shares. NYSE says they're worth $60.44 each right now, but I have no idea how much they cost originally. My quarterly dividend is a whopping $3.

[Ellien C]

No - for this reason:

Originally Posted by Knittin' in the Shade

I wouldn't, not for any "financial" reason (meaning, I don't particularly thinkt he stock will tank or anything) but because I have a personal policy not to invest in companies whose practices/business I don't support, and McD's defintiely falls intot hat category.

I'm trying to be more conscious of the types of companies my mutual funds invest in.