Growing Rich - Arabictrader.com

GROWING RICH WITH GROWTH STOCKS
firm also subadvises Selected Special Shares, a small-company growth
fund, for Shelby Davis’s company.
Your first impression after entering Bramwell’s firm is that it’s
anything but an upscale investment boutique. Although she’s recently
doubled her work space, making the quarters a little less cramped,
the reception area is full of fund prospectuses, with nary a couch to
sit on. The entire place is covered with boxes containing annual reports
and other material that has found its way inside. It looks as if
Bramwell and her staff save everything, and to some degree that’s
true. Bramwell acknowledges she’s a pack rat of sorts, preferring to
keep stuff she even thinks she might want to review down the line,
rather than tossing it out and living to regret it. “I hate to throw
anything away,” she says. “You never know when you might want
to go back and look at one of these companies.”
This is something that happens more often than you might imagine.
The day I visited Bramwell, she had just purchased shares of furniture
component maker Leggett & Platt. Her rationale for buying it was
that the company was an effective consolidator. It had followed a
successful acquiring strategy that served to eliminate redundant costs
and leverage distribution. She first bought shares of this company
back in the 1980s. She has been in and out of it several times since.
“I know the management and have been following the company for
a long time,” she says. “It’s a seasoned operation. The problem is
companies often go through plateau periods, where growth starts to
slow down. As an investor, you have two options. You can either
stick with them through the tough times, or you can sell out and buy
something that looks better. After I sell a stock, I usually continue to
follow it, looking for a chance to buy it again at a more favorable
price. Many analysts stop following a stock once they sell it. The
problem with that is you have to start your research from scratch
when you ultimately decide to revisit the idea.”
Bramwell’s private office is full of reports and books, such as Investment
Biker by Jim Rogers, First Things First by Stephen Covey, and
Thriving Up and Down the Free Market Food Chain by Arthur Lipper
III. As I walk inside and observe her library, I ask why she doesn’t
have any of my investment titles on the shelf. She tells me she does,
and promptly pulls out one of my books from the crowded space.
Bramwell was on the phone when I arrived, listening to a conference
call with one of the companies she owns. As the CEO talked, she
217