Speaking of credit. Credit is a very valuable tool to establish as a young person. However, it can be a disaster if not managed and taken seriously. Take your time and do not overload yourself with it. Get established and make a habit of paying that balance off early and often. The last thing you want to do is start off by having bad credit and loads of debt in many areas. These companies make it easy to do. Everyone needs to establish credit early on, but do it the right way. Excellent credit will help you as you get on into life, but you have to be wise and disciplined with it. It can be a tool in your financial tool box. Don’t let it get you into trouble early on or even later in life.
I have a few minutes more time now MIZUGORI. If you are able to share.....what kind of work do you do? Do you have a 401K or similar retirement plan at work? What are you taking in GRAD School? Are you young or someone that went back to school later? ("young" being a very relative term) I really dont have anything that I would call a "watch list" right now....since I added WMT recently as a "small training wheels position". If I was advising one of my kids...I might tell them to consider META. I am not a fan of the share structure of the company giving total control to ZUCK. BUT...you cant argue with how it is doing and has done over the recent past. It might be one that....GASP....EVEN "I"....will be forced to consider if or when I have some money to ivnest. I do like the other businesses that they own/control like Instagram....and....WhatsApp. And...I like them more since they have now focused on AI and appear to have ditched the METAVERSE BS.....or at least dont say much about it anymore. As to NON-TECH.....I would probably go through the top 50 or 100 stocks in the SP500 and see if anything catches my eye...if I was looking for something to add. EDIT.....I just did and nothing caught my eye. At this point I am very HAPPY with my little nine stock portfolio and dont have anything that I am considering. I have always tried to ONLY own at most 10-15 stocks. I am not a fan of big diversification....I think it kills returns. Although I do STILL own my two funds....as a good percentage of my portfolio....SP500 Index Fund and Fidelity Contra Fund. BUT....thanks to PLTR and NVDA....the stock side of my portfolio is about 70% versus about 30% for the two funds. GLAD you are doing well......keep up the good work....you are very smart to invest for the future of yourself and your family. The best gift you can give yourself and your kids.....is....FINANCIAL SECURITY and a STRONG FUTURE. Dont forget....to involve your kids in your investing in an age appropriate way as they grow older and educate them about finances and investing in any way you can. It will give them a HUGE advantage in life.
BRAVO.....to "US".....the long term retail investors: How retail investors won round one of tariff market volatility https://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-...ne-of-tariff-market-volatility-132041127.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "Who's the dumb money now? As $74 billion flowed out of equity mutual funds and ETFs in April, retail investors bought the dip and participated in the fastest snapback in the S&P 500 (^GSPC) since 1982. Retail investor inflows have surpassed $50 billion since April 8, according to a May 15 note from JPMorgan quantitative strategist Emma Wu. Although the pace of purchases slowed from "dip-buying weeks," Wu noted on Thursday that retail investors still bought $7.5 billion in equities over the past week. "I have to give retail a back-clap because they had been buying the dip all the way through," RBC Capital Markets derivatives strategist Amy Wu Silverman said on Catalysts (see video above). "It was really the institutional investor base that massively de-grossed [i.e., reduced exposure to financial markets]. So they're the ones who actually have to catch up right now." Data from investing platform Public indicates that investors who bought the dip between April 3 and May 9 earned a nearly 12% return. That winning streak led Bank of America's retail clients to sell stocks and take profits for the first time in 23 weeks prior to Memorial Day, according to a note from BofA senior US equity strategist Jill Carey Hall. Public founder and CEO Leif Abraham said the buy-the-dip strategy has become the norm, noting that "the concept of buying the dip has definitely become sort of retail investing culture." So what did the so-called smart money get wrong about the volatility and subsequent rally? Part of the reason is baked into the demands of the role, according to Silverman. "The pickle that an institutional investor is in ... [is] you're usually benchmarked to the S&P 500," she said. "So the S&P 500 goes up 15%, and you went up 5%. That's not great." It can be hard to justify fees if you're not beating the benchmark. Silverman calls this "career risk," which she said is something that isn't talked about enough. Retail investors benefit from a longer time horizon that institutional investors can't enjoy, since they are judged annually. "We miss a lot of returns," Invesco global market strategist Brian Levitt acknowledged. "Investors are still their own worst enemies." Levitt added that the lesson for long-term investors to stay the course in market volatility is a tale as old as time and not necessarily a strategy that indicates retail is winning. "Great days almost always happen near the worst days," Levitt said. "We've been through this so many times now. ... If you had told me when I graduated college in '98 that I would live through a tech wreck, a global financial crisis ... I wouldn't have thought that I would be up 12% a year in the broad US market." To be sure, retail or institutional buying can't protect investors from looming headwinds. Silverman warned investors to expect "uglier outcomes just down the road" because of how the 90-day tariff pauses were implemented." MY COMMENT AS USUAL.....they have to end this very positive story with some negativity and fear-mongering. BS on the statement......"retail or institutional buying can't protect investors from looming headwinds". Being a.....LONG TERM....retail investor is CERTAINLY protection from looming (short term) headwinds. Not that this guy or any of the other experts know what.......or if......any headwinds are actually looming.
"I"....will be a little less busy this week.....no studio day. BUT....I will miss at least 3-4 hours mid-day tomorrow for a noon Board Meeting.
It has been an interesting year so far. We are getting close to the half way point. Oh how time flies it seems anymore. I noticed an old international fund I used to hold is still handily beating the SP500 this year. Maybe I should have hung on to it….lol. Of course, this is a short period. Although, I think it is beating it out to at least a year time frame as well. It has a pretty good lead to catch up to. No, I am not advocating for it or anything else. Just an interesting point of commentary. Who knows where it will all shake out by the end of the year.
Agreed. Funny how they are always predicting and suggesting things to do. In reality, we really don’t know with any certainty, so what exactly are we supposed to be doing? Taking their advice on what to do about something they don’t know. Nah, I’ll pass on whatever that is.
I am in my 30s, I have a regular brokerage account, coverdells for my kids' college savings, custodial brokerage accts for my kids, and a self directed IRA. (Whenever I change jobs, I roll my 401k balance from that job into the IRA.) What I mean is, you used to periodically post your list of stocks, like HD, PG, MSFT, COST, etc. And it would change over time, for example Nike and Honeywell dropped off the list quite a while back. So I was just curious to see what it is nowadays. I am currently in the following: -AAPL -CMG -COST -GOOGL -HD -MSFT -NVDA -PG -PLTR -WMT Not every account has the same, and none of them have all of those, it's a little complicated. Also I technically still have a bit of HON in two of the accounts that I'm planning to sell and replace with something else. I'm also about to add some funds to some of the accounts, so in general I'm just trying to decide what I want to add, increase my position in, or drop entirely.
It's great to see you post, mizugori. That's a conservative looking portfolio you have there. Take some wasabi and soya out of petty cash.
Ha! I mean to be fair. I did not have much luck in the past, I did a lot of dumb things like holding Ford for years and it went exactly nowhere. I did all right with mutual funds but by all right I mean maybe, maybe 7-10% overall. Since finding this thread and investing in the stuff wxyz talks about - 60% gains on my main brokerage account and 45-50% on my kids' college accounts. Kid you not. Probably the biggest single improvement was losing this idiotic mindset of trying to pick a stock that was undervalued and going to turn things around and rocket up in value. Nope - just buy the absolute best ones they just keep going up (in the long run.) But there's no one I trust more than wxyz to identify the actual best ones.
AS USUAL: SO....here is my current portfolio of....NINE....stocks. The UPDATED Portfolio Model.......NOT as investment advice.....just as a disclosure of my personal BIAS and my thinking on how to structure a long term portfolio. "I am once again posting my PORTFOLIO MODEL. My initial criteria to start the process to consider a business are.......BIG CAP, AMERICAN, DIVIDEND PAYING, GREAT MANAGEMENT, ICONIC PRODUCT, WORLD WIDE LEADER IN THEIR FIELD, LONG TERM HORIZON, etc, etc, etc. PORTFOLIO MODEL "Here is my "PORTFOLIO MODEL" for all accounts managed which is the basis for MUCH of my discussion in this thread. I am re-posting this since I often talk in this thread about my portfolio model. My custom in the past on this sort of thread was to re-post my portfolio model every once in a while since I will tend to talk about it once in a while. I "manage" six portfolios for various family including a trust. ALL are set up in this fashion. If I was starting this portfolio today, lets say with $200,000. I would put half the money into the stock side of the portfolio, with an equal amount going into each stock. The other half of the money would go into the fund side of the portfolio, with an equal amount going into each fund. As is my long time custom, I would than let the portfolio run as it wished with NO re-balancing, in other words, I would let the winners run. Over the LONG TERM of investing in this style (at least in my actual portfolios), the stock side seems to reach and settle in at about 70% of the total portfolio and the fund side at about 30% of the total portfolio over time. That is a GOOD THING since it tells me that my stock picks are generally beating the funds over the longer term. AND....since the funds in the account generally meet or beat the SP500, that is a VERY good thing. As mentioned in a post in this thread, I include the funds in the portfolio as a counter-balance to my investing BIAS and stock picking BIAS and to add a top active management fund that often beats the SP500 (Fidelity Contra Fund) and a SP500 Index Fund to get broad exposure to the best 500 companies in AMERICAN business and economy. The funds also give me broad diversification as a counter-balance to my very concentrated 9 stock portfolio.At the same time the funds double and triple up on my individual stock holdings............that I consider the BEST individual businesses in the WORLD. STOCKS: Alphabet Inc Amazon Apple Costco Home Depot Microsoft Nvidia Palantir WMT (junior position) MUTUAL FUNDS: SP500 Index Fund Fidelity Contra Fund CAUTION: This is a moderate aggressive to aggressive portfolio on the stock side with the small concentration of stocks and the mix of stocks that I hold and with the concentration of big name tech stocks. Especially for my age group. (74). So for anyone considering this sort of portfolio, be careful and consider your risk tolerance and where you are in your life and financial needs. I am able to do this sort of portfolio since my stock market account is NOT needed for my retirement income AND I have a fairly HIGH RISK TOLERANCE. In addition I am a fully invested, all the time, LONG TERM investor. (LONG TERM meaning many years, 5, 10, 20, years or more)" MY COMMENT This portfolio is HIGHLY CONCENTRATED on the big cap side of things. OBVIOUSLY between the funds and my nine stock holdings there is MUCH doubling and tripling up on the stocks. THAT is INTENTIONAL. I strongly subscribe to the view of Buffett and some others that TOO MUCH diversification kills returns. I do NOT believe in the current diversification FAD that most people seem to now follow.......or think they are following. I DO NOT do bonds and think the current level of bonds held by younger investors.....those under age 50.....is extremely foolish.I DO NOT do market timing or Technical Analysis."
PLEASE....KEEP IN MIND. What I post is simply what I do....it is NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE OR RECOMMENDATION TO ANYONE ELSE. "YOU"...have to make your own decisions. "YOU".....have to decide how and what you are going to invest in. We are ALL different and in different situations in life. What is best for me may not be best for you. SO.....I DO NOT GIVE INVESTMENT ADVICE ON HERE FOR OTHERS TO FOLLOW.
Mizugori. I like your investment and financial strategy. Sounds like you are doing all the right things.
This is a basic view of what I am doing with this thread. I use it to FOCUS my investment thinking. On Why Carrying a Notebook Might Make You a Better Investor Exploring how history’s greatest minds leveraged constant note-taking to unlock extraordinary insights—and how you can too https://www.polymathinvestor.com/p/why-carrying-a-notebook-might-make A NICE little article....here is the conclusion: "Final Thoughts So remember—next time you’re trying to understand something difficult or complex, just start jotting down your thoughts without pausing to judge whether they’re “correct.” By doing this, you’ll be reinforcing your creative instincts, uncovering more of what you’re analyzing, and increasing your neurological contact with the subject at hand. When you recognize that you’ve had an idea, don’t let it slip away. Write it down. Record it. Share it. The very act of capturing your observation reinforces the habit of being perceptive—and who knows, you might just stumble upon your next great investing idea."
It is NVDA week. Investors With $7 Trillion in Cash on the Sidelines Await Nvidia https://finance.yahoo.com/news/investors-7-trillion-cash-deploy-083732152.html "(Bloomberg) -- An upbeat earnings report by Nvidia Corp. would bode well for a rally in US equities as investors have about $7 trillion parked in cash funds, according to BBVA strategists. Institutional positioning in the US technology sector is “undemanding” with hedge funds and mutual funds still substantially underweight,........ “With the institutional length in equities far from exuberance levels,” Onisiforou said the setup favors higher exposure to stocks."........ MY COMMENT That is a HUGE amount of money on the sidelines. Sooner or later it will join us.
Here is the open today. Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq soar as Trump pauses EU tariff hikes for fast-tracked talks https://finance.yahoo.com/news/live...f-hikes-for-fast-tracked-talks-133348369.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "US stocks leapt higher on Tuesday amid brighter prospects for an EU-US trade deal following President Trump's decision to push back the introduction of 50% tariffs on imports from the bloc. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) jumped about 0.7%, or around 300 points, while the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) shot up 1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite led the averages to the upside, rising around 1.3%. After Monday's Memorial Day market closure, stocks are eyeing a comeback from Friday's losses as investors welcomed signs of thawing in frosty US-EU trade relations. Another boost came from a slide in Treasury yields and a stronger dollar (DX=F), credited to signs that Japan will cut back on bond sales after a market rout. The EU on Monday agreed to speed up tariff talks with the US, easing concerns about a trans-Atlantic trade war. The move followed Trump’s announcement on Sunday that the US would delay imposing a stepped-up 50% tariff on all EU products from June 1 until July 9, to allow time for negotiations. Meanwhile, US Treasurys led a drop in global bond yields amid relief that Japan looks set to calm recent bond-market tumult that drove long-term government debt rates to their highest levels in decades. The 30-year Treasury yield (^TYX) fell as much as nine points to near 4.95% but traded closer to 4.98% shortly after the opening bell. Investors are now turning their attention to a busy week of economic data, including reports on durable goods orders, housing, and consumer confidence. Market watchers will also hear from Federal Reserve officials who are expected to hold rates steady in line with previous direction. Trump's contentious tax bill is also on the docket, having narrowly made it through the US House last week. Nvidia (NVDA) shares popped after a report of a lower-cost chip for China, with the AI leader set to take the spotlight on Wednesday with the quarter's most anticipated earnings results. Okta (OKTA), Macy’s (M), and Costco (COST) are also set to report this week." MY COMMENT A key earnings week this week......as we near the end of earnings.
AND.....of course. Consumer confidence for May was much stronger than expected on optimism for trade deals https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/27/con...han-expected-on-optimism-for-trade-deals.html "Consumer optimism got a much-needed boost in May on hopes for trade pace between the U.S. and China, according to a survey Tuesday. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index leaped to 98.0, a 12.3-point increase from April and much better than the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 86.0." MY COMMENT Of course......still meaningless data to investors. But at least we dont have to live through a FRENZY of negative media harping on the survey.
OK......I am went.....for my board meeting. Take care of the markets for me. AND......MAKE ME SOME MONEY.
