Great day today. Briefly set a new high for my IRA before it dropped a miniscule amount. Up 15.44% ytd (high was 15.46%)
We were actually better off back when I retired at age 49 in 1999. We had to live off personal assets for 21 years following that event....with no income. (except for music) I dont regret it in the slightest and it worked out financially.
What I cant believe is that on a day like this......NIKE....was in the RED. The current CEO is a total disaster.
You know we got to learn the lessons of funding your own retirement at a fairly young age....49. We started in about May of 1999. That allowed me to be off work for my son's Senior year of High School. A year and a half later we were in the brutal....2001/2002....stock market melt down. The official end of the DOT-COM boom. "The NASDAQ subsequently lost nearly 80% and the S&P 500 lost 50% to reach the October 2002 lows." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_market_downturn_of_2002 Six years later we were hit once again by the 2008/2009 near collapse of the world banking system and economy. It saved our bacon....at least some of it...... when I sold out of all positions in about May of 2008 and sat out for the next year till the Spring of 2009 when I went back in.....all in, all at once.
It was a long 21 years of UP and DOWN. BUT......through it all we kept at least 3 years of cash on hand to try to smooth things out. We managed to stay debt free and put three kids through college. (yes, I only have two kids, but we funded college for one of my son's classmates whose mom died of cancer during their Senior year). In hindsight our plan worked out as expected and 21 years later we started the annuities and Social Security to cover our needed annual income. I was originally planing to fund retirement by placing a big chunk of money.......+$2MILLION in 30 year treasuries. But the rates did not cooperate so I went with the Deferred Income Annuities in 2014......my backup plan.
NOTHING....I can say about the markets today......the day speaks for itself. After today....what in the world is tomorrow going to do? If we are in a mirror image of Tuesday and Wednesday.....we will be up nicely.
I missed most of the action regarding the markets today...so I just simply check-in on the thread to get a good update. A very nice end to the market day for sure. I so enjoy racking up some gains...doing absolutely nothing as mentioned already by zukodany.
I....like many if not most others.....hit a new ALL TIME HIGH today. AND....to think we have been doing all the recent gins without....EMMETT. Imagine where we would be if EMMETT was still able to actively post on here.
Yes of course W, the dollar amount always has a deeper psychological sense than the percentage amount… particularly for those reading your thread and are inexperienced (not the regular contributors of this thread). So yeah, it’s kind of AMAZING to know that you have made over a quarter million dollars in gains in one day. Particularly since you are writing a thread about an average long term investor and his memoirs (in my mind you’re a LOT MORE than an average, but we’ll keep “average” just for context) I’m sure that whoever is reading this post and has very little experience with the market would be GREATLY INSPIRED by knowing that if THEY TOO start investing in an early age they could most certainly have a day where their net worth will grow by a quarter million dollars in a single trading day sometime in their future when looking at a day like today. I know that when I made my first contribution of 5 shares in Tesla back in 2018 I would refuse to believe that I could make 15k in one day, regardless of how clear this was to me. Of course, there are many bad days where that amount could be reversed (although I can’t remember a negative 5% day since the covid dip). But overall, of course, it always comes to one thing - the overall appreciation of your investment throughout the years. I’m happy to have a portfolio that appreciated 80% in the past 6 years of investing for many reasons, but I can truly say that experience and resilience are the two main factors. I doubt that after what I’ve experienced in the short time of investing I will lose momentum, sell, or lose interest altogether. Of course, anything and everything is possible in life but this thread supports my confidence and abilities and for that I am very grateful! Thank you W for all you’ve done and continue to do and let’s keep on winning!!
Couldn't have said it any better. You are doing a real service to the silent masses, WXYZ! I even chucked a lamp against the wall in your name!
It is amazing to look back now in my 70's and see all that we did over our lives. AND....many of the big events and details I can not post on here......since I do not want to identify myself. For those starting out....remember.....it is not how you start.....but how you end up. Planing for the long term is the key....as is...getting your education and working hard in a good job. I was able to get through college and beyond with no debt due to our family tradition of educating the new generation. Saving as much as you can and starting at a young age are also key. We started out in the early 1970's in a HUD foreclosure house with one bath and two bedrooms. We bought it through a HUD program to buy their foreclosures since we could do so with nothing down. It was slightly on the wrong side of the tracks. We had a $16,000 mortgage and payments of about $160 per month. Shortly after we went on food stamps. Our income at he time....remember this is early 1970's dollars....about $600 per month combined for both of us....about $300 each. We worked hard and moved up from there. Family was a big help......to know we had backup. I will say....if I had worked for another 10-15 years we could have significantly added to our net worth. BUT....retiring at age 49 allowed me to focus more on music.....and....in hindsight was the right choice. ALL of my friends from back in the day.....died before age 65.....and a number died in their 50's. So I consider that I made the right choice to get out of the rat-race. Between about 1976 and 1983....our income grew quickly....but....so did our housing costs as we moved up two more houses in that time to where in 1983 we were in a home that we bought for $92,000. Money was still a strain with larger expenses....and the LARGE income taxes that were the law back than. We were making good money but saving is always a chore....and it seemed like we were always house-poor. We saved and invested and by about 1983 we had about $20,000 in our brokerage account.....actually a couple of mutual funds. In 1983 our income exploded due to my business success......and the fact that at that time I became sole owner of my business with no partners. Much of what happened after that in terms of investing is already in this thread. We were VERY DRIVEN with the idea of investing and saving for the future and retirement.....and we had the compulsive focus to do so. I say to anyone reading this....."YOU"....can do the same. BUT...it will take a lifetime of FOCUS and saving. The key....START NOW...no matter how old you are. That first step is critical. No one starts at the top. NO MATTER HOW SMALL YOU START.....you have to take the first step.
OK....lets keep this immediate market rally going tomorrow to close the week in style. COURAGE. With all the MANIA going on right now stay FOCUSED and RATIONAL....stick to your long term plan.
I like this little article. All-Time Highs Are Historically Bullish https://ritholtz.com/2024/02/all-time-highs-are-historically-bullish/ (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "February 22, 2024 8:43am by Barry Ritholtz A quick note to answer this question: What happens after markets make a new all-time high (after a year w/o one)? Check out the table above, via Warren Pies. He spoke with Batnick and Josh earlier this month. Going back to 1954, markets are always higher one year later – the only exception was 2007. That was after housing had peaked, subprime mortgages were defaulting, and the great financial crisis was about to start. This is the 15th time markets have made ATH highs after 12 months. Excluding 07, returns have ranged from 4.9% to 36.9% a year later, averaging about 14%; the bull market that followed ranges from 9.7% to 350%, with an average of 85%. Drawdowns following ATH tend to be shallower than other periods as well. Peter Mallouk points out that investments made on days of all-time highs outperform investments made on all other days, Technicians will tell you All-Time Highs are bullish because there is no selling resistance; behavioral economics suggests it’s bullish due to FOMO and plain old greed. Ask yourself this: Is 2024 more akin to 2007, or most other markets where new all-time highs were made?" MY COMMENT YES.....true....at least in hindsight. But every time is new and different. Personally I dont see much of a drop in the near to mid future other than day to day and week to week variations. BUT....we will probably have a correction some time this year.....we usually do....this is NORMAL. This is not something I would worry about. ACTUALLY....over the long term I dont worry about anything other than.....government and politicians.
I guess we have picked up today where we left off yesterday. A good strong open today but the NASDAQ is backing off now. I would not discount the "chance" of a red close today. It is just the sort of day following a big gain that the....AI trading models....could react and drive the markets down with profit taking. If that happens....it will be a short term aberration in terms of the bull market. I hate the....legal....market manipulation that the AI PROGRAMS are allowed to do on a day to day basis.
Poor APPLE....they are in the doghouse right now. They are my only stock that is in the RED so far today.......well.....also my little 104 shares of PLTR. Everyone is on their case right now. I think the issues they are having are WAY overblown. They dont seem to have much of a feel for how to do public relations and guidance on AI. In addition I consider them the WORST of the big cap tech stocks in terms of how they have tied themselves to China. NO....I have no plans to sell the stock and I have ZERO concern. As I said.....I see their main issue as their honesty and refusal to HYPE the AI stuff. Obviously they are just as onboard with the AI stuff as anyone....but their messaging is much more low key.
I see all sorts of commentators today and stories in print about NVIDIA and the way-overblown move the stock is making right now. All kinds of breathless fear mongering that it can not last, is not justified, and will not hold up to the fundamentals of the next 5-10 years, etc, etc. That.....this is unheard of in all of investing history. I was an early investor.....1990....in MICROSOFT. And I hate to tell them....what I saw with MSFT makes this stuff with NVDA look like peanuts. During that time period MSFT basically went straight up and went through stock split after stock split. It would simply zoom back up as soon as the split was done. Unfortunately in the world of today.......the EXPERTS.....knowledge is limited to their short adult lifetime and/or the past 10-15 years of internet dominance. Anything that happened before that time......never happened. I am not saying that this stock will continue to go up as it is now....but....these people are IGNORANT MORONS. Unfortunately this sort of BS is infecting our entire society and culture. There is no understanding of history or anything that happened before the past 10-15 years.
The market today. S&P 500 hits fresh record above 5,100 as Wall Street tries to end the week on a high note https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/22/stock-market-today-live-updates.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "Stocks rose Friday, building on the strong gains seen in the previous session as investors looked to end the week on a high note. The S&P 500 gained 0.3%, breaking above 5,100 for the first time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 210 points, or 0.5%, also reaching a fresh record. The Nasdaq Composite flatlined. Wall Street is coming off a monster session as Nvidia shares roared higher on strong quarterly results, leading the chipmaker to surpass a $2 trillion valuation. The S&P 500 had best day since January 2023, while the Nasdaq Composite popped 3% for its best session since February 2023. The 30-stock Dow gained 1.2%. “Blockbuster earnings from tech giant Nvidia sparked the rally, but many sectors contributed,” said Larry Tentarelli, chief technical strategist at the Blue Chip Daily Trend Report. “This is a very constructive breakout.” All three major averages are on track for winning weeks: The S&P 500 is pacing for a 2% advance, while the Nasdaq has gained 2.2% so far this week. The Dow is up 1.4% for the period. Block surged more than 21% after fourth-quarter revenue surpassed Wall Street estimates. Carvana climbed 30% after the used car retailer said it expects retail units to grow in 2024." MY COMMENT The NASDAQ is in the red....slightly....right now. The close today is far from a sure thing...especially for the NASDAQ and the SP500. Many will be taking profits today.
