ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, January 11, 1997             TAG: 9701130035
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-2  EDITION: METRO 
                                             TYPE: CORRECTION 

FOR THE RECORD

An Associated Press analysis headlined "American workers can invest in their own economy" on Friday's Business page was inadvertently trimmed by several paragraphs. Here is the final portion of the story:

Why, then, the popular belief that individuals cannot survive in the marketplace?

For one, many of them can't. They don't put in the effort to learn about companies. They haven't got the money to diversify. They buy and sell at the wrong time. They submit to advisers claiming superior knowledge.

But millions of small investors know what they're doing, are willing to keep abreast of market conditions, have access to enormous amounts of data in print and on line, and are capable of outperforming the experts.

Moreover, they have an option that most experts can't claim, that being the opportunity to buy direct from corporations without going through a broker and without paying the usual retail commissions.

The medium for doing so is the dividend reinvestment plan, or DRIP, in which shares can be purchased through the mail, sometimes at a discount from the market price and usually with a greatly reduced or no commission.

Evergreen Enterprises, of Laurel, Md., offers a comprehensive directory of such companies, as does Standard & Poor's. And the National Association of Investors Corp., Madison Heights, Mich., offers an easy-entry DRIP program.

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