Published: November 20, 1983

»I bought an option on 2,000 shares of Kodak at 3 3/4 and I lost my shirt. That was on a broker’s advice — E.F. Hutton as a matter of fact, if you want to go right to the firm. The best advice I ever had was an inside one on Nike Shoes when it was going public. It was about $13 when it came out. It ran to $30 and split. It’s back down now to about $16.» — Marty Pattwell, finance department, the Burroughs Corporation, Atlantic Highlands, N.J.

* »I’ve found that investing in things that I know best is where I make the best money. If I have a strong personal knowledge of something, I’ll invest in the field. If I don’t know anything about it, I leave it to the other professionals. If I had to give advice to somebody, that’s the advice I would give: brokers have to listen to analysts. I listen to analysts, but I draw my own conclusions.» — Richard J. Curley, municipal bond trader, East Brunswick, N.J.

* »The worst thing a broker can say to you is, ‘I think we ought to buy. ‘ When they say that, I say, ‘That’s fine. How much money are you putting in?’ I just take the position that they are in there to promote sales because they make commissions. I don’t listen to advice from brokers. I don’t do much in the stock market. Real estate is the best business in the world, if you do it right. It’s the only business that you make money while you’re sleeping, provided you do it properly.» — Saul Rudes, lawyer, Manhattan

* »I’ve missed some good advice from brokers. With a company called Asarco, options on it. It went crazy since the middle of the last year with the bull market. I could have gotten in on it, but I never followed up. The worst advice? I haven’t had much bad advice because I haven’t listened to a lot of the stuff.» — Tony Notaro, Burroughs Corporation, Manhattan

* »I call my broker a chemical engineer: He turns my money into garbage. The best advice? I never got good advice from a broker. Everything they gave me went down. I have to rob hubcabs to support my brokers.» — Dominic A. Tortorice, lawyer, Lynbrook, L.I.

* »The bank where I work set up a thing where you could buy Savings Bonds. I went along with it, but I don’t think it’s the best thing you can do with your money. I don’t think you get your money’s worth. But it’s coming out of my paycheck and I’m not going to stop it. They don’t earn a lot, but you do it anyway.» — Theresa Ruiz, systems analyst, Queens

* »The worst investment I ever made was in corporate bonds. The name of the company was I.F.C. Investors Funding Corporation. They had been paying dividends for 22 years, and perhaps two years after I bought them they went into bankruptcy. I lost everything. The purchase of a home was the best investment I ever made. Appreciated more in value than anything I’ve ever bought. I bought it in 1969, and now it’s worth at least four and a half times what I paid for it.» — S. Anthony Hunte, field representative, Pitney Bowes, Medford, L.I.

* »The best was New York State bonds in 1974. It turned out pretty well, but you had to sit on them a long time. I don’t know. I’m investing in college educations. I think that’s the best investment I can make. It’s the only one I can make now.» — Charles F. Schmidt, international banker, Douglaston, Queens

* »Rolls Royce. I loved the car, and I liked the company. I bought Rolls Royce shares and they went bust the following week. I paid quite a bit for the shares and got a dividend, eventually, of a few pennies. But there you are.» — Name witheld by request

* »The better investments are the more stable Dow Jones stocks, where you get the income, you get some growth. Fly-by-nighters, that’s all they are, fly-by-nighters. I own 11 million shares of a Philippine mining company; it’s like wallpaper on a wall.

»The worst advice was from an associate I went to school with, whom I thought I could trust. He not only took me over the coals, but my in-laws and everyone else. We all invested in a stock that he was highly recommending — it was his company — and he locked his doors and went out of business. You don’t trust friends or relatives when you’re buying securities.

»The best advice, I guess, is just the real estate market. You can’t believe what your house is worth today, compared with 20 years ago. But what do you pay to buy the next one?» — Robert E. Hurley, internal audit manager, Malvern, L.I.

* »The best? Chrysler. They were at 3 1/8 in about 1981, and before I sold they went up to about 24. I had a few thousands bucks in, so I did okay. The worst? There are too many bad ones to think about. I’m in up to my neck with them right now, so I don’t want to talk about them, or have my name used in connection with them.» — Name withheld by request

»A soap company, an acne soap company. I didn’t make any money on it. I lost everything. That was the worst. The best investment? Real estate. In New York, I’ve invested in a home with quite a bit of property, and doubled my money on it. And upstate I have property, and hope to build.» — Victor Echevarria, »a new investor,» The Bronx