IS IT WORTH BUYING A SINGLE SHARE OF STOCK?

As a true believer in the power of stock investing for creating wealth, I've sometimes been guilty of purchasing very small numbers of shares to add to my investment portfolio.  I know all the arguments against such a move, such as commission costs, but I did it anyway.  On occasion, my cash available to invest has been so little that I was only able to purchase a single share of stock to begin with.  While that hardly seems worthwhile, as long as I'm convinced the company will do well and they have a history of raising dividends, I'm likely to do it anyway.

While this may go against all traditional wisdom of investing, consider this:  One share of Berkshire Hathaway purchased at the March 17, 1987 price of $290 per share would currently be worth over $200,000!  I was working in 1987 and could well have afforded to buy a single share of a $290 stock, so it's not beyond the realm of possibility that I could have done so.  Alas, I did not.  If I had, I'd most likely be retired right now.  

While you're unlikely to see this kind of gain, it's quite possible to end up with a great deal of money from buy just a few shares of stock and holding on to them, reinvesting any dividends along the way.  If it's a company with a history of growing dividends and earnings, you'll likely see the small investment turn out to be worth the effort.  I often think of the story of the woman who worked at Lily and purchased 3 shares of company stock.  She reinvested dividends and held the stock for the rest of her life and ended up with over $7 million!

So, if you can only afford to buy one share, is it worth it?  I'd say as long as it's a good company and you plan to hold on to it for a lot of years, then yes it's definitely worth buying.