Meredith Margrave
Executive Editor
Hi, I'm Meredith Margrave, the former Executive Editor of InvestingAnswers. A native Texan, I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism and a passion for grammar.
Before joining the InvestingAnswers team, I worked at StreetAuthority, where I hobnobbed with financial experts and cut my teeth on investing and personal finance.
What is the best investment you've made in your life, so far?
There are a lot of things that I think easily qualify for this -- relationships with good friends, paying attention in school, liberally applying sunscreen before heading outside (an essential investment for any redhead, and something I've been doing since I was a teenager) -- but if I can only pick one, I'd have to say it's my dog, Ralph.
Almost immediately after graduating from college, I made the long drive to Arkansas to pick up my very own Westie puppy. Even though it wasn't necessarily the "smartest" way to spend a few hundred dollars right out of college, it was more than worth it. There's nothing that brightens my day more than coming home to his happy smiling face and slobbery smooches.
What is the worst investment you've made in your life, so far?
The worst investment I ever made was not investing sooner. Instead of opening a trading account in college, I hoarded my money in a savings account, which grew at a snail's pace. With a 0.0004% annual interest rate, for every $10,000 I saved, I earned an additional $4.77.
The worst part is, I was actually pretty market savvy. Not that it really matters -- I could have invested in almost any dividend-paying blue chip and made more than I did with my savings account. I was just too busy being a college kid to think about opening an account until after I graduated.
And just how much did I miss out on during those four years? One of my friends started investing our freshman year in college. Every check he received from high school graduation, birthdays, Christmases and so on went into his trading account. He spent his free time researching his favorite companies and learning what trends to look for. By the time we graduated, he had made enough from that account to pay for his next three years at law school.
What is the biggest thing you look forward to in retirement?
Finding the time to figure out what I want to do when I grow up.
What is your perfect "Saturday"?
The perfect Saturday is in the park, I think it was the Fourth of July.
