Well the current market is a like a preschool classroom, motivated kids building block towers and other kids (The media) constantly trying to knock them down. I guess we will see if rational thinking prevails on NVDA Er coming up later this month. I don't have high hopes but will continue holding for the long term. @Strathmore I can relate. I started my wife a portfolio earlier this year and she is most likely similar to yours as far as investing goes.
OK....I have been watching my auction all afternoon. I have watched 3 auctions this week and the prices have been weak. I was able to BUY the painting that we had targeted.....much lower than expected. Although it is STILL a big chunk of money. After the successful bid...I went into my account to see how NVDA was doing. It looked like it was starting to come back some......so I decided to wait till the last 20 minutes of the day and re-check. I made my sale of a......"BUNCH"....of NVDA right at about 15 minutes till close. The price I got was the high of the day. The current price with about 3 minutes to go is a bit lower. So I took some profits and converted those funds to art. A major work by a deceased artist that should at the least hold value. SO.....I got lucky on the price I got for my....."CHUNK"..... of NVDA shares...at least in regards to one day.......and....I got a good deal at the auction. A....WIN/WIN. For any that are curious....at a big auction like this where I am trying to get a significant painting and do not attend in person.....I bid by telephone. I arrange ahead of time for the auction house to call me a few lots before the one that I am interested in.....and...when my lot comes up the auction house employee takes my verbal instructions and bids for me in real time. All in all a successful day. I got screwed by the NVDA drop this week...but got lucky on the price I got today. AND...I have such a HUGE gain in NVDA.....I really cant complain. I guess to look for a silver lining..... this week has reduced my capital gains tax on the shares I just sold by a....little bit....so I will save a bit on taxes. NO REGRETS.
I see that NVDA ended the day just a bit....above....what I sold for. Must have been a last second flury right at the close. I had a good day.....considering ho dismal the markets were earlier in the day....nearly FLAT....a very small loss. I lost out to the SP500 today by.....0.18%. My GREEN stocks at the close....PLTR, HD, AMZN, and NVDA. The number of shares of NVDA that I still hold and the percentage of my entire account that they represent is still MASSIVE compared to any other position. But....it will be a more comfortable situation going forward...having taken some profits. If I had not done this auction buy today......I would NOT have sold any NVDA. I had no plan to take profits otherwise.....even though the position was uncomfortably big. My faith in the company is WAY HIGHER than any discomfort.
I have adjusted my figures that I use to calculate YTD return for my entire portfolio....so I can stay accurate going forward. This week I ended with my entire portfolio at a year to date of....+27.33%. Last week I was at a year to date of....+31.68%. A one week loss for me of....drum roll please....4.35%. I nearly did a..... 1/2 correction..... in my account in a single week. BUT...it could have been worse if the market did not recover today. ONWARD to a new week.
Well, we defied the odds as the day went on. Nice little close on the green side (SP 500). Maybe that will change the "mood" for a little bit. Of course, there were some notable haircuts this week individually, but nice to see some fight back to end the day. Better than going further down misery lane at least.
WXYZ- nosey question so up to you on answering. I imagine if a catistophic event occured you are insured on the value of the art?
Yes....I have a stand-alone collectables and art policy. I also have very high limits on my personal property portion of my Homeowners Insurance.
I don't go in and log-in to my portfolio on a daily basis, but I am sure I joined the rest of the crowd with an overall red week. The only green for the week was likely in my Treasury fund, so at least there is that. We have endured quite a bit of noise this year. Not uncommon for any year quite honestly. However, if we had known everything in advance for the year in January, I wonder if we would have thought we would be sitting where we are as of today.....well on the positive side. Nice thing, despite all of the noise. Well, it appears we....wait a minute.....(they), the US policy makers will now be etched in the history books as owning the longest shutdown record. They really deserve that distinction to their legacy. The dysfunction and disconnection from the people are on full display as usual with the Washington crowd. On that same note, if it were to linger into the holiday air travel time....what a mess for those at that time. Time will tell on it. Tiresmoke mentioned "preschool" above as to market behavior, but I think it also translates well into the policy maker group as well. Anyway, back to investing. As mentioned above, I don't log-in to keep daily track of my investment figures, but in general I figure I am somewhere around 15-17% or so. No, it is not the high flying returns often seen here, but it is simply good enough for my plans/goals. I still have a bit of cash to deploy before the end of the year. I should have took the time this week...LOL. On we go to the final month or two. It is good to be a long term investor.
If you are siting at 15-17% SMOKIE....that is outstanding. If it was me and I end any year in that range....it was a GREAT year. My long standing investment goal is to average 10% per year.....long term. I have been rewarded with a long term return well in excess of that amount....but that still remains my GOAL. If I can double my money every 7 years.....I am satisfied. Right now I sit at YTD.....+27.33%. When I get these types of years....GREAT....but not my expectation...even with an aggressive portfolio.
You know I dont keep much data. I see it as BUSY WORK. All I keep for each year is how my Fidelity Contra Fund did for the year and how my SP500 Index fund did for the year. I have those numbers going back decades. I have not kept track of my annual gain or loss for my entire portfolio since the early 2000's. Today....I was thinking about how I have done since the start of this LONG TERM INVESTING record. When we hit year end for 2025....this thread will span EIGHT YEARS....from 2018 to 2025. I was curious so I took the time to go back and see what my entire portfolio return was for each of the years reflected in this thread. Over that time we have gone through a world wide pandemic, an economic shut-down, a nasty bear market, some boom years, many, many, corrections, and INNUMERABLE fear-mongered daily and weekly and monthly events. Even a BLACK SWAN or two. HERE are my REAL RESULTS for the years of this thread 2018.......(-7.4%) 2019.......+31.67% 2020.......+20.32% 2021.......+34.76% 2022.......(-21.91%) 2023.......+45.44% 2024........+65.31% 2025........+27.33% (YTD) Based on the above an annual average return for my entire portfolio for 2018 through 2025 (as it sits right now) is: +24.44%. A HIGHLY UNLIKELY and IMPROBABLE return. I will GLADLY take it....but this is a highly abnormal return. There is no way I expect to do this over the next 5-10 years or the rest of my life. It is just not sustainable or NORMAL. But as a fully invested all the time LONG TERM INVESTOR....I love this result. AND....I know there are others on here that are even higher...perhaps much higher. BUT...at the same time...I know and respect that this is not a NORMAL return figure. So I....DO NOT...expect returns going forward to match this high number. AND in spite of this data....my long term goal is to average 10% per year long term. I am NOT going to let my expectations run away with me. I am not going to chase returns. I will respect what the market gives me and avoid the DANGER of OUTSIZED EXPECTATIONS and the big emotional swings that can create for an investor.
Thanks W. Yes, I am satisfied with that based on my plan. I (we) just have to hold on and continue the alley fight to the end to keep our gains...LOL.
I think posts like those above regarding some of our returns and things we do are helpful and provide some proof to those maybe just starting out or early in their investing journey to stay with it. It also helps all of us too I think. At the foundation, most here are likely the same with regard to our conviction about long term investing. Sure, we are different with our individual plans and such....which is good, because they are individual based, but the goal and roadmap is much the same. As I have said many times, this little thread gives us a place to share our experiences. It is good to see/read about others doing the same thing in a world where instant gratification and no patience reigns supreme. In addition, when the market is stormy, we can vent, throw a fit, express our doubts, get grounded, and slap each other to bring us to our senses.. We stay the course and I think we help each other do that in a small way. So, in this Saturday post...a thank you to all that are here in this thread and share your journey. I enjoy each one of your stories and posts as we navigate the long road.
I have been reading everything but have been too sidetracked to give any meaningful replies. I have a few in mind that I want to respond to. Vanguard has a weird flaw that has been in existence since I have had my account in that it will never let me see my YTD performance. It always shows N/A. Some kind of dumb error. It will; however, show my 1yr performance. Right now, I am sitting at a 52.7% YTD gain. Needless to say I am a happy camper. Long live Leather Jacket Man!!! Talk to you all soon... I promise.
AND.....Road. Dont keep us in suspense. What are your current holdings? Have they been the same over the entire year 2025? If not what changes did you make this year? TireSmoke.....how is your very aggressive portfolio looking right now YTD? What do you currently own?
Many here are way past the beginning stage. So, this post might apply to those just starting. However, maybe there are those lurking or can only view content. Maybe they are just beginning or contemplating their journey. Here are the many types of accounts available to investors starting out. Such things as a taxable, Roth IRA, Traditional IRA, HSA, 529, 401k and etc. Most of these type of accounts can be found with most major brokerage investment firms such as Schwab, Vanguard, Fidelity and so on. The point is to get started, have a plan, and do some research before jumping in. Below is a short summary and info about those type of accounts. As said above, you can find these at most firms. Info below is just an example of one. https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/smart-money/investment-accounts-types
I find the last year or so strange. Participation has fallen off a cliff except for the regulars. It's probably that way with a lot of sites seemingly left on auto. For such an extremely important topic, there sure seems to be a lack of options for people who like to post complete thoughts and analysis. I'm not into Discord and Youtube nonsense for financials. For me, it started around 2017 when we became less house poor. We wanted our money to work for us instead of languishing in CDs and savings accounts. I got a Vanguard account and began investing in most the FAANG stocks, NVDA, and VOO. We'd take leftovers from our summer funds and sink it into stocks. The rest is history. I have been hammering it into my kids' heads as well. I told them that living in So Cal is stupid expensive. Unless they wanna pay rent for the rest of their lives, they need to save and invest young. I knew it was an inevitability, but, as I am sure you are all aware, this headline does not give me the warm fuzzies. I find this bit alarmingly ironic. One could make the argument that all cultures have pros and cons, but to frame it as some are better than others against the backdrop of AI military/weapons operations is just... ominous. Again, I am 100% convinced that Karp and (especially) Theil are dangerous psychotic sociopaths, so take my statements with that in mind. Amen. George Carlin made cynical people watching an artform. It's all just nonsense out there. Odd. I made an account a while back. I have not used it yet. I hope this place stays around. Yeah, if people could get off their screens long enough to realize that. The trouble is, its an addiction, and we all know that addictions are hard to kick. This just blows me away. Assuming he hits all the milestones, his pay package would be 1/8.5 of the entire market cap? Just no. The cult of Musk is indeed a cult. Congrats on another painting!
Haha, I won't. The majority of my portfolio is NVDA. I also have small positions in AAPL and MSFT. The rest is in VOO and VUG. Almost all recent additions have gone right into more NVDA shares. I'm just not seeing anything that I like better, so it goes there.
