Market, Energy, and Inflation posture (Not Political).

I am all for this thread. After experimenting with several things, I found some subscription services that have made my portfolio explode. Not counting my cryptos, my portfolios are up almost 50% in the last three months. My cryptos are up over 100% just in the past month! I sure wish I had gotten in earlier than April 2017!

 

I log in every couple of weeks for that reason. I can't imagine losing 220mil worth of BTC because I forgot a password or lost my key.

 

Oh, I know it; I was going to buy about 20 Bitcoin back in 2011; but we'd just gotten another house @ the time and the wife said "I'm not sure I'd put any money into that."

Worst mistake ever.

 

If my portfolio was worth $220 million, it would be liquidated to much more conservative assets! I understand that guy was just a long term holder but he should have checked occasionally to make sure he could log in! There are some cryptos that have been profitable, but since their wallets were buggy, I didn't risk it.

 

You need to frequently remind your wife of that!

 

Believe me, I do.

On the other hand, I did invest in a little known company named Moderna a year or so ago.

Side note - what (if any) apps do y'all use for trading and the like? I use Robinhood and SoFi currently, but am wondering if there are better apps out there.

(And no, it's not my only source/avenue for investing.)

 

Inflation with all of this “stimulus” is a very real problem coming quick

 

ThinkorSwim, Bittrex, and Coinbase are my three. I also have deferred comp ran by Mass Mutual that I rarely look at. I made the mistake of looking when Covid hit and almost puked when I was down 80k in 2 weeks.

 

Yeah, I remember thinking "Don't look at funds mid-2020" and did anyways, and had the same reaction. Thankfully, not only has all that been regained, but it's actually exceeded where it was prior to COVID-19.

 

I would get rid of Robinhood as quickly as possible. You are losing money when you buy AND when you sell. Your purchase price is always a little higher, and your selling price is always a little lower, than if you used a firm such as TDAmeritrade (which owns ThinkOrSwim), Schwab (which is merging with TDAmeritrade), or one of the more established online trading services. I use ThinkOrSwim to manage my TDAmeritrade account, and while it is much more powerful than I need, I have learned how to do what I need to do with it.

Great call on Moderna! I didn't get that one, but I am up almost 10x (1000%) on Fulgent and almost 5x (500%) on Hut 8 Mining, and I only bought Hut 8 three months ago! Again, I don't take credit for these calls. I've subscribed to a few guys with a VERY strong track record of success!

 

Did not know that - although that's what I used to buy the Dogecoin (lol) so I think I'm safe. Everything else was/is on SoFi. With that said, I've heard other things about Robinhood, so yeah, I think I'll switch to something else.

Care to share what the sources are? I'm not made of money but I'm at least @ the point where I can afford to buy some stocks and would like to start doing more research instead of going by the seat of my proverbial pants.

 

I have no problem sharing the sources. I subscribe to services that include several sources, but the three individual people who have BY FAR performed the best are Jeff Brown with Brownstone Research (brownstoneresearch.com), Matt McCall with Investorplace.com (specifically his Early Stage Investor newsletter), and Teeka Tiwari with Palm Beach Research (palmbeachgroup.com). Teeka is also who I get my crypto advice from. There is a pretty inexpensive newsletter that Teeka is involved in called the Palm Beach Letter that has really good advice and a good track record. That one is only $199/yr. The rest are a lot more expensive, but you can get them on sale from time to time and then upgrade to a lifetime subscription for the best bang for your buck. Seriously, most of the time the lifetime upgrade costs less than two to three years of the annual costs. If you have any portfolio at all they will more than pay for themselves easily within two years, and possibly within one.

And they all have free newsletters if you just want to get to know them and their backgrounds before spending any money with them.

I hope this helps someone here. I tried for years to make good investments without paying for advice, and I just barely beat the market. I paid for my first subscription in 2016, and have gone through several duds to find these. These guys are better than most hedge fund guys, and don't cost nearly as much!

Here is a screenshot of a portfolio I started in October, primarily populated with stocks recommended by these guys. Almost 50% in three months. Do the math. If this continues, that means tripling my money in a year. Of course I think that is too much to wish for, but I can dream!

 

My meagre savings are in index funds, 100% equities. I have a 30+ year investment horizon so the higher risk in exchange for a potentially higher return is acceptable to me.

 

I’m 50.. Staying all in and high risk! Also bought up a lot of Hydrogen and electric car stocks. Looking hard at oil/ gas stocks now.

 

Your a madman...lol. I'm 50 and scaling back. Been in the game a long time

 

The market over any 10 year period has never lost $$$$. So I figure I’m good for the next 10 years!

Oil.. supply will tighten considerably over the next 1+ years? So prices should go up? Just gotta pick the right ones!

Hydrogen fuel cells WILL be a BIG deal in 5-10 years! $$$$ Again which ones?

Big What if? National debt very well could be the next crisis?! Then what? Heavy Metal/Crypto$...or guns and ammo!

 

Ahhh anyone have any suggestions for sie exam I need to take in a month? Any financial professionals wanna chime in and help me understand options! ‍♀️‍♀️‍♀️

 

Was a long time ago for me but I ordered some soft ware with practice tests and spent 100’s of hours studying! Calls puts/options best to sit down with a pro!
Good Luck! And don’t give up! I now wish I would have stayed in that line of work!

 

I absolutely Love when folks Panic and Sell stocks. I keep cash at the ready for these opportunities.

I stay in aggressive domestic and international stocks, have been since 2000 and have made over 700% return then to now. Can't even begin to match that with bonds, diamonds, gold and such.

Lately I bought a Marijuana stock, less than 3 weeks ago, has more than doubled since, WOOHOO!

The market never stays down, only long enough to let me buy the really good quality cheap stuff everyone else sells when they panic, just Love it!!

 

Far from a pro, but I intraday or swing options when I see a setup. They're tricky though because you have to take into account the time decay Greek (Theta). Stock can be moving in the appropriate direction but if it is too slow for your plan, Theta will eat up any profit. Then commissions hit and you just paid your broker $X to do nothing.

 

Lmao thank god for exam it’s not that much info, it’s more like learning the tables.... such as the bull bear chart, and the call put, long short table... and what that doessssss

 

Oh if that's the case then any Investopedia article will get you caught up! Options can be crazy difficult to understand. Been doing it for 3 years regularly and I'm still learning.

 

I've been investing basically in state, county, and municipal debt from what the descriptions state. The returns have been favorable 10-15% and the betas are low. I watch P/E ratios as well. Nio is a prime example of NO. I understand the risk/reward ratio but I guess I'm a slow and steady guy. I'm interested in startups but I'm not throwing 100/200 a share at something with wacky numbers. BCV is a good example of lower risk as I'm waiting for the price to drop.
Energy will rise. Rumors of keystone being dismantled, coal scaling back, etc. If we hit a 15 minimum wage or corporate tax hike to 2015 levels it will be passed to consumers via inflation. That's the dilemma. Hydrogen? That's a tough call. Batteries I can see. Let the youngest chase the stocks and speculate. Some will get lucky, I don't have the years to claw back 75-100k. I would like to watch from a safe circle though..lol

 

At the risk of sounding even more ignorant than I care to admit, what are everyone's thoughts on investing in physical (is this even the right term?) precious metals? I've started buying some as a response to the uncertainty from the past year or so, mostly silver eagles and occasionally some small amounts of gold. My reason is mostly as a backup in case inflation starts to rocket, although the more I read on that the less concerned I've become, and as a bartering tool in the future, as they are always worth something (kind of like guns and ammunition.)

 

Strange times when Ford (F) is rising as a possible electric car player in the market the past few days.

Will be interesting to see if they can pull off that kind of transition, and if so, if their stock skyrockets like Tesla...

 

Never a bad idea to have some as a hedge. but these days, you need to be careful as there are folks that counterfeit gold coins and American Eagle gold coins.

So be sure to purchase from a reputable source and for gold price only (not collector grade stuff, because that is always so subjective based on a relatively arbitrary rating system).

 

Thank you for the heads-up. I make my purchases based on spot prices and try to pay as little of a premium as possible, based on availability. I'm not into the collector stuff, as you said. And I feel grateful that I have been able forge a relationship with a local dealer that I trust.

 

Agree with Bob. Notice he said "some". It's a hedge and that's the low risk opposite of bitcoin, however metals seem to move like molasses. I'd rather high yield bond it and take my inflationary lumps.

 

Could work but my advisor recommends moderation and diversity. Don't sell all your other investments to buy gold, for instance

 

Agreed. I have some coins locked away, but I'd rather hold gold in the market or in a fund. Kind of like mining companies.

I like the idea of this thread. I work in the industry but only manage my own investments and always enjoy good conversation. I definitely agree that we have not bounced back that quickly and are in the clear. We will see how things unfold and I'm certainly starting to line up some cash for another dip. I'm young so I can be more risky, but only to an extent.