They Bought Starbucks Stock in the '90s and Held Onto It. Now, They're Living Off the Dividends While People Spend a Fortune on Coffee
Key takeaways
- Early, patient ownership of Starbucks stock has turned a 1990s purchase into a reliable retirement income source, proving that investors can benefit from a company’s growth without being customers.
What happened
A Reddit user shared that his uncle and aunt bought a large amount of Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) stock in the 1990s and have held it ever since, now living off the dividends without ever drinking Starbucks coffee.
Why it matters
The story illustrates how early, long‑term equity ownership can generate substantial retirement income, even for investors who never use the product. It highlights the power of compound returns and dividend reinvestment over decades, and it underscores the broader theme that investors can profit from companies they…
Short-term and longer-term
Short-term. Short‑term traders might note that Starbucks’ share price has been relatively stable over the past decade, and the company’s dividend yield of about 1.5% provides modest income.
Longer-term. For long‑term investors, the story underscores the importance of identifying high‑growth, dividend‑paying companies early and holding them through market cycles.