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The Long and Short of it(What Stocks are you watching)

uacowboy

uacowboy

"The Minuteman"
Concierge Emeritus
Hobbyist
Welcome to the TSC Stock Market thread. With the crazy things that have been going on and generating news coverage lately like what happened with the GameStop stock, I was thinking it might be cool to have a space around here to discuss things we are watching.

Keep in mind that what we post here is not intended to be any kind of expert advise or anything like that, but if you have something you are watching and want to chat about it, maybe share what made you take interest, then feel free to post!
 
I'll start off by saying that i am very new to the Stock market myself. Just started to really pay attention to it last fall. My goal right now is to learn the ins and outs, maybe make a little money, and then once i feel comfortable, start taking a more active roll in how my retirement account through work is invested.
 
When it comes to work programs, if they match ANY portion of your contribution (more is better, obviously) get in as fast as you can sign the paperwork. I'm not up on the ins and outs of the US tax system, so can't advise you on what funds/stocks you should hold in what investment vehicle, but it's never too late to start planning for retirement.

As for me, I don't play the market for quick bucks, but invest for the long haul. My days of spending 2-4 months researching any particular US/CAD stock before buying it are done. In those days (over 15 years ago), I would buy ~10k of a stock and hold it for ~2 years before selling. Made some good money over a 4 year span (1 big loser, 3-4 break-evens, and about a dozen winners), but it was too much work.

Now my approach is simpler, provides a solid return, I don't need to try to time the market, and I sleep easy at night:
1) Portfolio <$100k : 60% US index ETF, 40% CAD ETF
2) Portfolio >$250k: 40% US index ETF, 20% CAD ETF; 5 quality blue-chip dividend stocks (8% holding each) paying at least 3.25% dividend
3) Portfolio $100-250K: 50% US index ETF; 30% CAD ETF; start collecting the blue-chippers for #2 one at a time (buy next stock when you hit ~$10k holding)

I've only changed 2 of my stock choices over the past 20 years, and prior to Index ETFs, held Index mutual funds.
 
My employer does a match and i have been getting the most of that for several years now. The account we have makes you reach a certain threshold before you can start to actively invest with it. I'm pretty sure I'm well over that at this point. Most of what i do will likely be in ETFs as well but i figure i will probably have a little bit that i take some chances with.
 
ETFs - Try to keep your MER VERY low; mine are 0.06% and 0.04% for my US/CAD ones, receptively. Retain as much of your money as you can. ;)


Not much more I should be able to contribute for you US folks other than to suggest to do a bunch of research, talk to some professionals, do more research, realize this is a long-game not a win-in-a-week play, and keep doing more research.
 
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I don't think its a secret around these parts, I am an investment advisor and I own/operate my own firm. I am a tactical manager, so I DO buy and sell at least some portion of my (and my clients) portfolios based on what I see or expect to see happening. I tend to use ETF's and focus on building broadly diversified portfolios but I do own a number of stocks in my/my client portfolios. Some of the stocks I own in my personal accounts are more speculative than I would like to admit but most of the individual stocks I own are fairly common companies that are either in sectors I expect to outperform or were trading far below what I thought they should/would be.



Here is a bit of "trivia" in case you find it interesting or useful... since November, more than $569 billion has gone into global equity...compared to the $452 billion in the previous 12 years combined.
 
I'm all about knee high argyle socks...

Oh, wait...you said stocks...not socks!

🤪
 
Most of my investments are in mutual funds. Mostly a SP500 index and an extended US market index. To accompany that I have a US Gov bond fund and a corporate bonds fund. I do have an account with 8 individual stocks, almost all pay out a nice dividend. I’m more of a long term holder of stock and like to but then knowing I’ll most likely hold them for at least 5 years. I have another account through work, and while Uncle Sam doesn’t give a match, the expense associated with those funds are VERY low.
 
I got my 401k company one that I no longer need to worry about rolling over here I only worry about my full company match. We also max out two roths each year and also one traditional IRA. Those I trade in ETFs and dividend paying stocks in the ROTHs. My goal is to be retired by 50.

And then I have two accounts for fun. One is kind of like a savings account that wouldn't be the end of the world if I lost it all in a big mistake. I did very well on this account during covid and I mean real well, well enough that the gains pretty much funded the roths for 2020. 2021 so far not doing as well. But I am up a tiny bit. The other play account I use is way high risk! And I like to do level 2 and level 3 options trades only with it I threw $500 in there back in 2018 and have never added more to it.

I am by no means an expert at all. But I do enjoy playing the game and doing research on my play accounts. I have a few bags that I'm sadly holding onto hoping they recover but that's the market.
 
Other than my 401k, I really don't have much in the stock market. I am still relatively new with personal investing. Started investing back when the market took a huge do, so have made some nice gains when it has been normalizing.
 
As someone close to retirement and only working because I still want to I give some simple advice to my younger brethren. SAVE!!!

When you invest seek quality. If you don’t have the time or inclination to do much research index funds or ETFs like the S&P 500 will historically give a very nice return over virtually all 10 year periods that have already occurred. Reinvest your dividends. The power of compounding cannot be underestimated and with periodic investing and reinvestment you will have dollar cost averaged which makes timing the market (almost always a bad idea) an even worse idea.
 
Retired for 6 1/2 years. Invested 40% in low cost broad based total US stock fund and 60% in low cost intermediate term US bond fund (50% US intermediate treasuries and 50% US corporate bonds). Life is good! YMMV
 
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