40 bucks, 40 years and proof that Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is right

IN his provocative shareholder letter, JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon wrote that long-term thinking is vital and that "making important investments, in good times and not so good times," has been key to Chase's success. "These investments drive the future prospects of our company and position it to grow and prosper for decades."

That letter prompted me to look at one of my musty, old files, containing the history of how a tiny investment I made in a Detroit bank stock for journalistic reasons more than 40 years ago has morphed into JPMorgan shares. I suddenly realised that acting Dimon-Resque by reinvesting dividends rather than taking them in cash has helped produce a return of more than 100 to 1 on my ancient investment. That's right. More than 100 to 1.

The saga started Jan 4, 1974, when I plunked down US$40.50 to buy one share of National Detroit, which 30 years and three mergers later became part of Chase. National Detroit was one of the firms I covered during my days as a Detroit Free Press banking reporter. I bought my share - with my editor's permission - so I could get shareholder documents (which were sometimes difficult to come by back then) and to make sure I could get into the bank's annual shareholder meeting. When I left the Free Press in 1979, a combination of inertia and nostalgia led me to keep my National Detroit stock and my shares in three other Detroit banks.