Why I Keep Adding MCD Stock After Visiting McDonald's

Most investing decisions don't happen inside a brokerage account. They happen in everyday life.

Over the years, I've tried to reduce unnecessary spending and make more intentional financial decisions. At the same time, my wife and I try to maintain an active and relatively healthy lifestyle and encourage the same habits in our daughter. Of course, kids are kids.

While we generally prefer home-cooked meals, outdoor activities, and healthier food choices, we still visit McDonald's occasionally or order food for delivery from time to time.

In our household, McDonald's is more of an occasional treat than a regular habit. That led me to create a simple investing rule.

Turning Consumption Into Ownership

Whenever we visit McDonald's, I often buy a small amount of McDonald's stock. Usually it's just 0.1 shares. The amount itself isn't important. The habit is.

Today, after spending the day exploring Dublin, we ended up at a McDonald's restaurant. Afterwards, I added another 0.1 shares of McDonald's (MCD) to my long-term portfolio. This wasn't a major investment decision.

I didn't spend hours analyzing earnings reports or building valuation models. Instead, it was another small step in a habit I've been following for several years.

Teaching Investing Through Everyday Experiences

One of the investing lessons I'm trying to teach my daughter is that consumers can also become owners. Most people interact with businesses every day without ever thinking about who owns them.

Investors see things differently. When you own shares in a company, even a small fraction of a share, your perspective changes. Instead of simply spending money at a business, you're also participating in its future success. McDonald's provides an easy example.

Whether we're in Latvia, Germany, Ireland, or elsewhere, the golden arches are usually nearby. Millions of people visit McDonald's restaurants every day. The business is familiar, easy to understand, and visible almost everywhere.

For teaching basic investing concepts, that's valuable.

The €4 Strawberry Drink Observation

One thing that stood out during our recent visit was the price of a strawberry-flavored drink. The drink cost more than €4.

Interestingly, it cost more than a latte. I couldn't help but think about the economics behind that. The ingredients themselves likely cost very little compared to the final selling price. Yet customers continue buying these products.

That's not a criticism. It's simply an observation.

McDonald's appears to be adapting well to changing consumer preferences by offering products with attractive margins and broad appeal. Whether it's specialty coffee, desserts, or sweet beverages, the company seems willing to follow consumer trends and customers appear willing to pay for them.

As an investor, that's an encouraging sign.

Am I Bullish on McDonald's?

Not particularly. I'm not aggressively buying McDonald's stock. I'm not making a prediction about future share prices. I'm not suggesting others should buy the stock.

In fact, I don't spend much time analyzing McDonald's compared to some of the companies I use in my options portfolio. What I do believe is that McDonald's has demonstrated remarkable durability as a business.

The company has survived recessions, inflationary periods, changing consumer preferences, and decades of competition. For a long-term investor, that matters.

What About Options?

McDonald's is an optionable stock.

Investors can sell:

Covered calls
Cash-secured puts

And there are certainly traders who use MCD for exactly that purpose.

Personally, I don't consider McDonald's one of my favorite options trading stocks. Most of my options activity focuses on stocks such as NVDA and other positions where option premiums tend to be more attractive.

For readers interested in options income strategies, I discuss some of those approaches in:

Still, it's nice knowing that options are available should I ever decide to build a larger position.

Building a Position One Fractional Share at a Time

Over the past few years, these small purchases have accumulated into approximately 4.5 shares of McDonald's stock. That's obviously nowhere near the 100 shares required to write covered calls.

At the current pace, reaching that milestone could take many years. But that's not really the point.

The purpose isn't to build a covered call position. The purpose is to slowly accumulate ownership in quality businesses.

Every share contributes to the portfolio. Every dividend contributes to future growth. And every purchase reinforces the habit of thinking like an owner.

Small Purchases Can Become Meaningful Over Time

One of the themes I've been exploring recently is using investment income to gradually acquire productive assets.

In some cases, I use options premium to purchase fractional shares of companies already held in the portfolio. Other times, I simply add small amounts whenever an opportunity presents itself.

McDonald's fits naturally into that approach. The position is small. The purchases are infrequent. But they serve as a reminder that investing doesn't always need to involve complicated forecasts or market predictions.

Sometimes investing starts with simply paying attention to the businesses you interact with every day.

Final Thoughts

Will buying 0.1 shares of McDonald's after each visit make me wealthy? Probably not. But that's not the objective.

The objective is creating a connection between spending and ownership.

It's a simple habit that encourages long-term thinking, reinforces investing principles, and provides opportunities to teach those ideas to the next generation.

For now, every occasional visit to McDonald's adds another small piece to the portfolio. And while the position itself remains modest, the lesson behind it may prove far more valuable over time.

This article reflects personal investing habits and observations and is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It should not be considered investment advice, a recommendation to buy or sell securities, or a prediction of future performance. All investments involve risk, including the potential loss of principal.