AND.....congratulations to Warren Buffett as he hangs it up on Wednesday. What a MASSIVELY successful career and life. He did a lot of good with his investing platitudes and letters. AND.....he never lost the...."common touch". A true AMERICAN CHARACTER. I dont know if there will ever be another team like him and his side-kick....Munger. ICONIC.
OK...nothing going on.....so I will move on to other....."stuff".....for now. As I do so the SP500 and the NASDAQ are now slightly green.
Good afternoon Mr. WXYZ, hope all is well. I was looking at Costco and was wanting to know if you think 2026 will be a better year. I know you own the stock and was wanting you opinion? It happens to be my lowest performing stock.
I like COSTCO.....and will definately NOT sell the stock. This year....2025....was a very strange year for the stock....very good earnings that were completely Ignored. Probably also my lowest performing stock. As to 2026.....I have no idea. I just know that the company fundamentals are GREAT and over the past five years the stock is UP by about....130%. It is also UP nicely over the past 3 years. It is down by 6.13% over the past year. One thing I do believe....over the LONG TERM it will OUTPERFORM. Keep in mind....this is NOT a tech stock...it is not going to go up like a tech stock. It is a long term hold stock that over 3 or 5 or 7 or 10 years USUALLY beats.
Today I ended with a SMALL loss. I did have three stocks green....AMZN, MSFT, and GOOGL. I also lost out to the eSP500 by....0.19% today. We continue to see any hope of a SANTA RALLY fading.
I believe Warren Buffett did more for retail investors than anyone, including Jack Bogle (John C. Bogle). This, despite Jack Bogle bringing incontrovertibly correct investment products and strategy for 99.5% of people, including myself. I have infinite respect for Jack Bogle and now consider him my primary mentor but Warren Buffett was the guy who sat down with a generation of retail investors and made us understand the Wall Street elites are not better than the average retail investor, to say the least, but they do trade on information retail investors don't get in real time. He laid it out like a grade 2 algebra class. He could not have been a better teacher. It was so obvious. Short term investing against people who have inside information is insane. Long term investing is the only rational approach. Happy New Year to all.
I got my settlement money today from a lawsuit that I was involved in. About $18,000....after attorney fees and costs. I put about $13,000 into my SP500 Index fund. I put about $2500 into the 2x Nvda and PLTR ETF's......NVDL and PLTU. I want to follow them along with some real money for the longer term and see how they do. This is MAD MONEY....a small art fund...that I want to see if it will grow in these two ETF's. The rest of the money went to various non-investing uses. At least it happened by chance that I got the money invested after a few DOWN days. But.....even if the markets were up massively today...I would have put it in. My normal course is...ALL IN ALL AT ONCE....as soon as I have available money. That is the PROVEN PROBABILITY.
Well here we are. The last trading day of the year and it looks like we all survived another year and get to start fresh tomorrow! I did move a little money around this year, sold some stocks to cover 2024 taxes and moved about 60% of my 401k into a self directed account to get some individual stock exposure. This move was pushed by the company no longer offering company stock in the company directed account. Stupid move on their part but is working out for me so far. So far my 'boring 401k' has a 25.6% return on the year. My HSA has 51% return on the year. For anyone who has a HSA available to them, especially the young and healthy, I view this is the single best wealth generating tool available right now. The drawback is a high deductible healthcare option but I believe for health people not on a ton of medications it's a very good route. Most company's have a sizeable contribution and you can put $4,400 for single and $8,750 for joint accounts in 2026. Tax free in, tax free out for medical purposes and then at age 65 it pretty much turns into a roth ira where you can use it for anything. Also you can pay medical expenses out of pocket and cash the receipts in at any time. My goal with mine is to build it up to where the 4% rule will easily cover my family's needed yearly expenses, ie contacts, meds, appointments. My risky brokerage account is right at 41%. Not bad. The wife's account I started this year near the market bottom is up 55% Hopefully we have some positive market energy and bump these numbers up a bit.
YES........YEA.....final market day of 2025. It has been a very good year......but....took some GUTS to hold through it all and get there. I am sure a lot of people got scared out of the markets at various times this year. Whether you did good or bad or in-between this year.......it is a FRESH START on Friday. We will ALL be equal.....at ZERO YTD. I still say.....EVERYTHING....is lined up right now for an EPIC year in 2026. The only things we have to fear are....fear itself.....and....the market killing media.
YES....receiving some money.....a very dangerous thing. Received a windfall? Here is what to do next. Avoid falling prey to ‘Sudden Wealth Syndrome’ https://theweek.com/personal-financ...tter_20251230&utm_source=afternoon_newsletter
I like this little article. The BIGGEST RISK for investors in 2026......YOU....and your irrational behavior. The Biggest Risk in 2026 https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2025/12/the-biggest-risk-in-2026/ "The biggest risk to me is that investor expectations have become out of whack because returns have simply been too high in recent years."
I am not....but....if you are inclined to look back....here you go. Trump 2.0, stocks soar again, gold hits records, AI boom rolls on — Yahoo Finance's 2025 year in review https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trum...o-finances-2025-year-in-review-110012895.html
I may have already posted this article.....BUT.....I will put it up again. Thanks for all you did guys.....Buffett and Munger. WELL DONE. YOU inspired and educated many little people in their investing. YOU....did a lot of good. Be a good person and buy boring stocks: Wall Street reflects on Warren Buffett's wisdom https://finance.yahoo.com/news/be-a...ects-on-warren-buffetts-wisdom-134023905.html
As usual.....MORE good news for holders of NVDA. Exclusive: Nvidia sounds out TSMC on new H200 chip order as China demand jumps, sources say https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-nvidia-sounds-tsmc-h200-074433953.html "Chinese technology companies have placed orders for more than 2 million H200 chips for 2026, while Nvidia currently holds just 700,000 units in stock, two of the people said." MY COMMENT NONE of this China business is included in their forward guidance. It is ALL.....GRAVY.....for investors. I am seeing LOTS of NVDA articles today.
Same old DISMAL start to the day today. No SANTA in sight. I think it is safe to say we are not going to see a SANTA RALLY this year. The third year in a row....although....this is an irrational myth anyway.....the year end rally.....not, SANTA. We are just going to limp to year end. The speculators, the traders, the AI Programs, the professionals....REFUSE to believe in the economy, the big cap companies, and the markets. I see more....MUCH MORE....outside factors weighing on the markets than ever before in investing history. The media is number one with constant negativity. The constant refusal to believe or reward good fundamental business results is another. The dominance of speculation and gambling over the shorter term is another. A HUGE factor is AI headline and news content trading. Etc, etc, etc.
I start today with a couple of green stocks. NVDA and GOOGL. The big averages.....ALL RED. We are in a little MILD 4-5 day DIP. There is no energy or confidence in the markets right now. AND....the big factor....it is a very shallow market due to the Holiday week. S&P 500 slides, but gets set to close out 2025 with 17% gain https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/30/stock-market-today-live-updates.html BOTTOM LINE....we had a GREAT year....but it never really felt GREAT. In the end ALL that matters is the reality of the gains we got this year......NOT.....the "feelings".
YES......."WE"....the little retail investors that invest for the long term and do not trade.....KICKED ASS....this year. Retail investors close out one of their best years ever. How they beat Wall Street at its own game https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/31/retail-investors-dip-buying-taco-trade-strong-2025.html "Mom-and-pop investors bought the dip at key points this year, providing strong returns as the market climbed to all-time highs. Once thought of as unsophisticated and easily duped, a new breed of retail investor is giving the professionals who have long dismissed them a run for their money, according to investors and market data analysts interviewed by CNBC." MY COMMENT This is a great article....read it. "WE"....are the real investing experts. "WE"....are the real investing professionals. "WE"....are the real GUTS of the markets.
There is not much I can say....after the article above. If you read that article you will see the real investor in action. The GREAT.....silent majority.....of investing. The...... "little people".
