Posted on 06/14/2008 6:10:22 AM PDT by kellynla
If you’re wondering who owns “Big Oil,” chances are good the answer is “you do.”
If you have a mutual fund account, and 55 million U.S. households do, there’s a good chance it invests in oil and natural gas stocks. If you have an IRA or personal retirement account, and 45 million U.S households do, there’s a good chance it invests in energy stocks.
It’s a common misperception that oil executives are the only benefactors of industry success. Instead, the bulk of ‘Big Oil’ benefactors are hardworking men and women across America who boost their retirement portfolios through oil and natural gas stock. In fact, only 1.5 percent of company shares are owned by industry executives. The rest are owned by mutual fund investors, or those planning for retirement with pension and IRA funds.
As API Chief Economist John Felmy has noted: "When politicians seek to punish these companies and 'take their profits,' they are not targeting industry executives but the hard-earned savings of working people."
A study by economists Robert J. Shapiro and Nam D. Pham found:
Almost 43 percent of oil and natural gas company shares are owned by mutual funds and asset management companies that have mutual funds. Mutual funds manage accounts for 55 million U.S. households with a median income of $68,700.
Twenty seven percent of shares are owned by other institutional investors like pension funds. In 2004, more than 2,600 pension funds run by federal, state and local governments held almost $64 billion in shares of U.S. oil and natural gas companies. These funds represent the major retirement security for the nation’s current and retired soldiers, teachers, and police and fire personnel at every level of government.
Fourteen percent of shares are held in IRA and other personal retirement accounts. Forty five million U.S. households have IRA and other personal retirement accounts, with an average account value of just over $22,000.
For more information read the news release that accompanies the study, including quotes from Shapiro, undersecretary of commerce for economic affairs under President Bill Clinton, and Pham.
Yep. I do. Gold & Silver, too. My Master Plan is finally coming to fruition, thanks to a Democrat-led CLUELESS Congress.
Keep up the good work, Guys & Gals. :)
“I’m an oilman, ladies and gentlemen.”
Most of my Eggs are in that basket right now
But I will be “out” rapidly if
the Dems win the White House / House / Senate
The idiots will kill the goose that laid the golden egg
The idiots will kill the goose that laid the golden egg
That is the one point I have difficulty believing, and the one point that points out the utter pointless deception by the democrats in congress.
They cannot possibly believe the bilge they are attempting to foist on the American people, and if they fail to kill the goose that laid the golden egg, it will be proof positive.
Do you really believe they will kill their own IRA, 401K, investment? I don’t think they can do it. If they succeed, I will have a new respect for their utter stupidity.
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Thanks for posting this. Just the info I need to counter my friend’s husband who is always complaining about “Big Oil”...LOL
Yes I have owned Exxon stock for over 25 years. Good dividend.
I also have had GE stock for over 43 years. Same reason good dividend and its been in the reinvestment program for that time.
Yup; XOM, Conocophillips and Occidental.
I shifted about 50% into energy 3.5 years ago, 12% into precious metals and mining and the remaining 40% or so into stupid broad-based strategic investing fund, which also has about 5% in energy. I am not a master investor, just more a common sense type. The rewards have been gratifying.
Care to share the approx annual dividend rate?
XOM’s current yield is 1.81.
Better though, since Nov. of 2001, stock has gone from $37 to $88. Not too shabby.
“My Master Plan is finally coming to fruition, thanks to a Democrat-led CLUELESS Congress.”
I hear Dems saying that drilling now won’t do anything for the short term. That is BS. The oil doesn’t have to be physically on the market for the price to fall. The knowledge that America is on the roll and about to pump out some major oil would make the prices drop almost immediately. All this inflationary speculation would end overnight, IMO.
That’s when you sell your interests. ;)
I bought 4,000 shares of Williams Companies at 89 cents a share in 2003.
I’m in good shape.
Will you be my financial advisor?
What’s that?
Okay, that one worked out, but you also have to know that I bought ValuJet two weeks before it crashed in the Everglades.
I think that one ending up costing me about $6,000 before I just ate the loss.
It’s primarily an oil company. WMB is the ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange.
$38.78...wow. Excellent.
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