In the spring of 1942, Warren Buffett made his first investment in the stock market when he purchased three 3 shares of Cities Service stock, an Oklahoma natural gas company that Warren’s father, Howard, had frequently recommended to clients at the stock brokerage that he ran and operated.

By the fall of 1942, the stock quickly fell from $42 to $32, before coming back to $45 in short order. Warren Buffett did not like seeing his investment fall from $126 to $96, which in 1942 dollars is like seeing a $5,000 investment fall to the $4,000 range nowadays, and then he sold at $45 which is more like turning $5,000 to 5,200 in today’s dollars.

Shortly after this, the price of natural gas began to boom, and by 1943, the stock rose to $110. In today’s dollars, if Warren Buffett had held onto his Cities Service stock, it would have … Read the rest of this article!