Creating a trading journal to track my 401K progress and trades. I'll start with a summary of where I've been and what my goals are. I will use real dollar amounts here, because I think it's a good learning tool and will help others understand exactly what my risks are, and where I'm coming from. This will be good for my accountability as well. I will try to post any time I make a trade, and will post my current portfolio in my next post. EDIT: EVERYONE SHOULD FEEL FREE TO POST IN HERE ANY THOUGHTS/CONCERNS/CRITIQUES/ETC. History I started in my current position in March, 2015. My company gives me 6.4% (not matching, they just give it) into my 401K, and I was putting in nothing to start. I didn't discover that I could manually invest my 401K into the stock market until 1 year later. Currently I'm putting in 7% of my money I believe, and 6.4% company money for <13% a year. Below are my returns by quarter. As I track in this journal, I'll use weekly and update as I can. Goals When I originally made my plan, my hope was to make 10% a year. I figured if I leave my 401K in cash (uninvested), after 30 years my 401K would be worth ~$600K at 56 years old. If I make ~10% a year, that number grew to a little over $2M. That was how I set my goal. It might be made another thread (I'll start with this one), but I had essentially the same goal for my savings account. Make that another $2M by saving ~$1K a month and investing it for a 10% return. Below is the plan by year. Current Portfolio Note: I have had at least some AMD since it was $4.16/share. I am currently sitting on ~$40K cash and looking for positions. AMD I just sold a lot of (it was the very very large majority of my 401K (like 80%) of all my money. I've been intimate with it since the $4's when TTT made it a known commodity around here. I plan to hold what I have in it for quite some time unless things change. I will add more periodically as I see good buying opportunities. YEXT I just got in. 448 shares at $17.79 today. Trading plan is below. I plan to post all my trades with this format when I enter. Green is the target price, red is my stop. These can change with new information, but that's what I'm going for at the time of entry.
[Given this is a trade journal and you are not necessarily seeking any kind of feedback, I just cannot help making this initial comment, so please forgive this brief and only intrusion. ;-) ] Nicely done, especially the conservatism in the salary outyear estimates...hopefully, you'll be pleasantly surprised how much your salary has grown by 2030, but best to keep expectations lowered. Your contribution levels are great...as your income grows and you control spending, you can shunt more of the delta betwixt the two into the 401k (currently set by IRS at $19k per annum!) as well as IRAs. I also like how you are tracking your growth quarterly...this will likely (if it hasn't already) be a huge motivator in sticking to the stratagem. Speaking from the other end of the planning process (nearly 54 years old) and having developed at your age a similar plan, I would say this is very doable. I weathered the 1999 dot.com "crash" as well as the 2008 great recession, and still managed to "retire" at age 50 using very similar assumptions.
Feel free to post, I should have made that clear. I want comments, critiques, thoughts, etc. I'm in a salaried Union, so my salary I can basically know exactly where it will be because of mandatory guaranteed raises up to a certain number. Once the wife and I have a decent sized savings account, I'm sure I'll take the opportunity to grow an IRA on the side as well. I have my contribution into my 401K set to raise 1% every year. I track Weekly and Monthly as well, but didn't think they'd be necessary for showing my history. I'll add them in periodically as I update. Like I said, please don't make this your ONLY intrusion. Everyone should feel free to post in here.
Just got in GBT. Playing the bounce off the ascending trade range support. Fairly low risk/medium reward play. Screenshot of the trading plan as well as the order placed.
Had a phenomenal week last week due to AMD. Sold a lot MUCH to early though. Oh well, my plan was to sell the extra shares I had at $30/share because it was almost my entire 401K and that is too risky and not the plan I like to have. Weekly Return on 401K: Current Holdings: As you can see, I'm sitting on a lot of cash right now waiting to be invested. Just need to get some extra time to find the right positions at the right price.
Just got in VMW at $173.823 for 46 shares (~$8000 investment). It's bouncing off support, coming out of oversold territory, and has more support at the 200MA. You can see my trade plan below.
Got stopped out of GBT for ~$342 loss. Stuck to the trade plan. Lost what I was willing to lose on the trade. Can't win them all.
Doesn't get much flatter than this for the day! Lost $0.05 in the 401K today. That's nuts. I'll continue to post trades as I make them. I'm also going to try to post one of these daily summaries every day that I can: Account Value: $74,708 Cash: $31,630 Day's Profit/Loss: -$0.05 (0.00%) Positions (Day's PL / Total PL): AMD: -$186 (-0.71%) / +$5,287 (+25.56%) YEXT: +$148 (+1.67%) / +$1,048 (13.15%) VMW: +$37.72 (+0.47%) / +$95.08 (1.19%)
In regards to post #8 I like how you stuck to cutting your loss and moved on, the trick is to have a plan before you pull the trigger and after you pull the trigger, stick to the plan whether it is % or $ win or loose you have mapped out before the trade.
I always try to stick to the plan UNLESS something changes that requires a change of the trading plan. But I very much agree, enter a trade with a plan and stick to it. Plan the trade, and trade the plan.
AMD continuing to pullback off the multi-year highs. Took a loss today, but not too bad. Still watching multiple stocks and waiting for entry prices on pullbacks. Considering a small gamble play on CHWY tomorrow for the IPO. IPO's seem to be crushing it this year. Account Value: $74,177 Cash: $31,635 Day's Profit/Loss: -$536 (-1.24%) Positions (Day's PL / Total PL): AMD: -$638 (-2.45%) / +$4,649 (+22.48%) YEXT: +$166 (+1.84%) / +$1,214 (+15.23%) VMW: -$64.40 (-0.80%) / +$30.68 (+0.38%)
Played CHWY today, but not in my 401K so I will not include it in this thread. It was just a small gamble since IPO's have been doing so well this year. Not a good day. Account Value: $73,029 Cash: $31,635 Day's Profit/Loss: -$1143.88 Positions (Day's PL / Total PL): AMD: -$831 (-3.28%) / +$3,818 (+18.46%) YEXT: -26.88 (-0.29%) / +$1,187 (+14.9%) VMW: -$286 (-3.56%) / -$531 (-3.19%)
Another down day. Thanks AMD. I'm used to this with AMD being the driver of my 401K though. Account Value: $72,082 Cash: $31,635 Day's Profit/Loss: -$948 Positions (Day's PL / Total PL): AMD: -$936 (-3.82%) / +$2,882 (+13.93%) YEXT: +53.76 (+0.59%) / +$1,245 (+15.63%) VMW: -$65.32 (-0.84%) / -$320 (-4.40%)
YEXT was my only small loser today. It was up a lot at one point. It's having trouble breaking resistance of the 50MA and holding the breakthrough before finishing the push to $23. The question now will be do I continue to hold and stick to the trading plan, or take the 15% profit since opening the trade on June 5th. I'm getting a feeling this may be losing momentum for some reason. Could just be some consolidation before the next leg up though. Account Value: $73,694 Cash: $32,185 ($518 deposit today) Day's Profit/Loss: +$1,053 (+2.60%) Positions (Day's PL / Total PL): AMD: +$1,009 (+4.28%) / +$3,890 (+18.81%) YEXT: -$85.12 (-0.92%) / +$1,160 (+14.56%) VMW: +$129 (+1.68%) / -$191 (-2.38%)
You got a nice bump since your purchase and $1,160 richer is nothing to sneeze at. If your original trading plan feels vulnerable, one option you could consider is to sell all but 56 of your 448 shares. That way you get your initial $7969.92 investment back and you would more or less own the 56 keeper shares free and clear. You could ride those 56 shares out to test your thesis without the anxiety of risking the loss of that profit. And, you will have freed up some cash to dip into YEXT again if it drops from here, providing you still like the set-up. It's a way to have your cake and eat it too!
Good point, something to consider. I'll play it by ear though. I've done that many times though, selling half my position, etc. Finally having made it to day shift at work has been nice, I can actually watch the market majority of the day when I'm not busy instead of sleeping through a lot of the trading day. Has been amazing for how I've felt physically compared to the last 4 years on the swing shift.
Can't complain. YEXT recovered at the end of the day and closed over the 50MA for the first time, albeit by only a few pennies. Hopefully that's the final resistance before the push up to $23 for a roughly 30% gain. Account Value: $74,005 Cash: $32,185 Day's Profit/Loss: +$311 (+0.49%) Positions (Day's PL / Total PL): AMD: +$40.35 (+0.16%) / +$3,931 (+19.01%) YEXT: +$98.56 (+1.08%) / +$1,259 (+15.80%) VMW: +$172 (+2.20%) / -$18.54 (-0.23%)