Too Hot Investment Thread

It blows my mind how much goes into stocks and investing. So many options, terms, data, etc. I wish I had learned all of this information when I was younger. These past few months of learning about all of this has completely changed my view of money and how I should have handled it when I was younger and started prioritizing my finances 6 years ago.

 

I agree with you here - so much information available - what is important and what does it mean though? I was a science major and reading the financials on a company is not something I was ever taught or learned how to do. I understand some of the simpler metrics and what they mean but it gets pretty obtuse pretty fast for me. I'm learning though and getting better at it as I really need to*. This is one of the reasons I value the information provided by the "experts" from Morningstar, CFRA, Ned Davis, Ed Jones (dont cover many stocks) et. al. - the ones I have free access to.

*I looked into hiring a firm to manage my investments but they wanted 1.35% annually and with that they were confident I would realize 3-4% return. In my cheapskate mind that was not a good ROI. So now I do the due diligence myself every few days - until my eyeballs glaze over.

 

I have:

ECSL - alternative gas company currently with a handful of gas stations but also building a Green terminal in Tampa to help distribute gas throughout Florida

Tesla - duh

ALPP - Alpine 4 Holdings - Leading owner and operator of small businesses. Someone told me to buy this last year, it's up over 400%

APHA - Aphria Inc - Cannabis pharm. - Up over 150%

AMC - talk that Netflix is interested in buying them - might be a rumor

AAPL - done ok

SPCE - Spacex - another big winner for me - bought it at $14

PFE and JNJ - own less of these, but we'll see how it shakes out

I also dabbled a little in the cripto - 18k of Doge and have Vanguard for the conservative me. I do have a great financial advisor in Cali to whom I transferred my 401K when I left Lennar. I haven't added a dime and he has almost doubled the portfolio in three years.

I also own a couple of rental properties.

Praying for retirement in the next 5 years

 

One clarification, SPCE is Virgin Galactic, founded by Richard Branson. SpaceX is privately owned by Elon Musk and other investors. The first chance any of us plebes will have to purchase anything of SpaceX is when they spin off Starlink. That should be a no-brainer to acquire though I expect the initial valuation to be quite high.

 

I’ll manage your money for only 1% . Actually, you should look the other way if someone implies a certain return on your investment.

 

Lol, welp, it's done pretty well since I bought

 

I sure would - they were only telling me what to expect and likely would have done better - they gave no guarantees.

 

Another all time high for Bitcoin. This time it broke $60k

 

yeah that end of the year projection of $100k is slowly looking like more and more of a possibility.

 

I am HYPED.

 

According to The Economist:

“If bitcoin became as popular with investors as gold (measured by the market value of their positions) the price would rise to $146,000, calculates JPMorgan, a bank. Already, millennial investors appear to prefer cryptocurrencies to bullion.”

 

Canopy Growth may be worth some consideration as it is partially owned by Constellation Brands (Corona, Modelo among its beer portfolio). Mexico just approved marijuana to be legal for its entire country last week. With Canopy's beverage distribution prowess in Mexico, it could do the same thing with pot. The stock closed Friday at $34.20 but has been as high as $52 in Feb.

 

Bitcoin taking a hit today after India leans towards crypto ban. Aren't dictatorships fun?

 

Interesting. They seem to be focusing on CDB- and THC-infused beverages. Haven't turned a profit yet, but the losses for 2020 and 2021 are predicted to be much less.

 

Yeah - theyve tried banning the latter and failed miserably. (Maybe you knew that and that's your point)

 

CBD and THC infused beverages is definitely a trend to watch in the next few years.

 

I just threw together a list of dividend and value ETFs for my uncle that likes to jump in and out of the market. The idea is to provide him with a simple and low cost way to invest in the market so he doesn't feel the need to try and time the market. All of these ETFs are good to hold long term.

VTI - Vanguard Total Market Fund - 1.38% Dividend Yield - 0.03% Expense Ratio - This fund is the entire market in one fund. Super low cost and simple way to invest.

VIG - Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Fund - 1.65% Dividend Yield - 0.06% Expense Ratio - This fund is made up of companies that have consistently paid and raised their dividends for many years.

SCHD - Schwab US Dividend Fund - 3.01% Dividend Yield - 0.06% Expense Ratio - This fund includes companies that have consistently paid dividends and have good fundamental strength.

VTV - Vanguard Value Fund - 2.45% Dividend Yield - 0.04% Expense Ratio - This fund is made up of Large Cap Value stocks.

VYM - Vanguard High Dividend Fund - 3.05% Dividend Yield - 0.06% Expense Ratio - This fund includes companies that pay above average dividends.

VPU - Vanguard Utilities Fund - 3.39% Dividend Yield - 0.10% Expense Ratio - This fund includes large utility companies.

VNQ - Vanguard Real Estate Fund - 3.8% Dividend Yield - 0.12% Expense Ratio - This fund includes large real estate investment trusts.

The seven ETFs above would make a simple way to get into today’s market without a lot of risk or concerns about individual stocks or portfolio managers. VTI, VIG, and SCHD are more growth oriented ETFs and the other four are more value oriented. You could adjust the growth/value risk profile of the portfolio by overweighing or underweighting the funds accordingly.
The same is true for dividend yield. If you are more interested in higher dividend yield you could replace VTI and VIG with the ETFs below, SDY and DVY. The total dividend yield from that portfolio would be 3.11%. That is compared to a 2.68% dividend yield if you invested equally in the seven above ETFs.
If you are more interested in growth and not dividends, then I would recommend just investing in the first four ETFs and leaving out the high dividend, utility, and real estate funds.

SDY - SPDR S&P Dividend Fund - 2.73% Dividend Yield - 0.35% Expense Ratio - This fund is made of the highest dividend stocks in the S&P 1500 that have consistently paid and raised their dividends.

DVY - iShares Select Dividend Fund - 3.35% Dividend Yield - 0.39% Expense Ratio - This fund is made up of high dividend stocks. These two funds are more value oriented.

Another ETF I would note is the health care sector. It’s historically a defensive sector and one that I think is very reasonably valued right now.
While not the most exciting sector, It could be useful in diversifying a low risk portfolio.

VHT - Vanguard Health Care Fund - 1.21% Dividend Yield - 0.10% Expense Ratio - This fund is made up of Large Cap Health Care stocks.

These are the growth ETFs that I like and would recommend buying.

QQQ - Invesco QQQ Fund - 0.20% Expense Ratio - This is the Nasdaq 100, the 100 largest Nasdaq companies. One of the best long term performers for growth funds.

VUG - Vanguard Growth Fund - 0.04% Expense Ratio - This fund is made up of Large Cap Growth stocks.

VB - Vanguard Small Cap Fund - 0.04% Expense Ratio - This fund is made up of Small Cap stocks.

I’m putting together a list of dividend stocks that I’ll share when I’m finished with it.


Full Disclosure: I am not a professional money manager, please do your own homework and invest at your own risk.

 

I have a taxable account at Wealthfront, and many of these are in it. It’s not a high percentage of my portfolio (7 percent maybe?), but it’s a nice hedge because it’s not me picking. The other thing about Wealthfront is that you don’t pay for trades, you tell them the risk level you want and they keep your there. They also have tax harvesting, which is nice at year end. And the fee is only a quarter percent.