Investing, One Day at a Time
Pat Harrington (a.k.a. Schneider from the '70s hit sitcom One Day at a Time and veteran Kiplinger's subscriber, shares a valuable lesson about personal finance. As told to Marc A. Wojino
From Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, March 2008
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When did you first start investing?
When I was working on One Day at a Time, which aired from 1975 to 1984. In the last three years of that show I was making an enormous income. So I got together with a big investing firm and put my money in stocks.
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Did your investments do well?
No, that firm really failed me. The managers put my money where they wanted it. I lost about 30% to 40% of my stake. I also had a business manager who went south on me by making bad buys in real estate.
How did you survive all that?
I just worked harder. Luckily, I received a lot of money from residuals because I had a large body of work dating from the late 1950s. Then I sat down and began examining financial newsletters. After trying two or three, I settled on Navellier in 2002.
With good results?
I have more than doubled my money. When I started with Navellier, nothing made sense. I was completely in the firm's hands the first couple of years. Now, I own 50 stocks in a TD Ameritrade account, and I do all the purchasing and selling. In 2007, I earned about 15%.
How do you keep up with 50 stocks?
I'm on the computer every day. The first thing I do in the morning is take a look at what's happening. I may sell some shares to raise a little cash.
Any other sources of income?
I have three pensions (Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and Actors' Equity) and Social Security benefits. When I get out of bed on January 1, I know I have x number of dollars coming in for the year. And that's a terrific feeling.
Are you still working? I'm working on a film that my daughter Tresa wrote called Holidazed. It's a complex family film involving a bad marriage and a love affair. In the next five years I'd like to get something on Broadway.
What lessons have you learned over the years? Saving is important because you have to be able to handle emergencies, and you don't want to start breaking down your investments to pull money out. When it comes to investing, hold on to your money until you're just a bit more sure than unsure. Then you can start. But that has to be a totally informed process. You have to do your homework.
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