Keeping accurate and up to date records are very important. Buy yourself a hardbound memo book for keeping records. This book will serve several purposes. Keeping track of your Drip’s, account numbers, addresses and phone numbers. Keep track of all of your transactions of buying and selling. Also have a few pages set aside for the certificate numbers as you get them over the years.

Write down the company, account number and the address and telephone number at the top of the page for each company. Skip a few pages for each company allowing for growth over time. Make columns for the following.

Amount  Invested,    Price per Share,  Shares,  Total Shares, Total worth and the Date

Price Per Share multiplied by Total Shares = Total worth. Through the Total Worth numbers, you will be able to see the progress.

Do not get discouraged if the total worth goes down because of the movement of the price per share. If this happens, it can be better in the long run. Here is how. The same or a little more dollar amount will be invested each quarter. When the price of the shares are lower, more shares are bought, thus increasing your total share amount that are used to calculate dividends! This is the bottom line we are looking for anyway, gaining as many shares for the buck. When the share price goes back up, it will be worth more! Your dividend amount percentage will also increase.

In the front of this book, keep track of the transactions. Here is a good way.

Date,  P/S,   Company Name, Price,  Comm/Fees,  Shares and  Value/Cost

P/S stands for Purchase, Sold and have an abbreviation for Split. Also write in which account Single (whom) or Joint. Commission and Fees are important for cost price calculations later. Value is figured by multiplying the price and the shares together. Do write in the Total cost of shares next to the value. Somewhere, have an abbreviation for the brokerage house. Also write down any spin-offs from the splits. I.e. AT&T spun off NCR and Lucent Technology. Do keep your brokers phone number and account number in these pages.

Take a few pages to keep a log of Certificate Numbers:

Date   Company   Shares   Certificate     Number

It is really a good idea to keep a list of these.

This book is also a gook place to keep serial numbers for things like your tools, TV’s, stereo equipment, VCR’s, cameras etc. Might even want to keep bank account numbers and credit card numbers along with their telephone numbers in case they get stolen. Never let anyone see this book and kept it in a safe place.