2/21/2025 Another Rough Start on Wall Street Today

Thank you my friend for that info. I didn’t realize the transparency, scary stuff to say the least.

Ignore my occasional booshet posts that criticize Trump and post more often here. You make the board better.

No worries, different opinions is what makes the board interesting. Keep posting.

With rare exceptions that is very true. When I was a young man I met with an investment adviser and one of the litany of questions was, “ what’s your tolerance to risk? The riskier the picks the higher potential for big profits”. I didn’t even blink, I said , “ let’s fucking gooooooo!”

Today, I gotta look at the chart, listen on earnings calls, etc. and sometimes I get analysis paralysis and don’t pull the trigger right away. 🤷‍♂️

Once you touch the hot stove, well, it changes you forever . 😂

For me it helped to get to a certain point. Like I could sit there ad brag and be like "I have been worth 8 figures since I was 50 year old" and then go shove gold up my butt because Warren Buffet told me to. ORRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I could decide that's a decidedly cowardly and weak approach. One that just worries about what you have rather than what you can build.

So what I did was decide that I felt $5 million was plenty of money to live on. I was still young, making money, my house was paid for. I felt $5 million between safe dividends and moderate price appreciation should be able to net me about 6-7% a year. That's $300K-$350K And I had no car payment, no house payment and at the time my health insurance was paid for by my business. Oh and kids college funds were set. How could I not live on that?

So about that time I decided anything over $5 million was play money. And I wound up investing in Alibaba, some Chinese Indexes, CHPT Rivian LRCX and some other stupid stiff that basically pissed away a lot of money. I threw money into options and wound up stuck owning META, Tesla, etc. Oh and that Cathy what's her name. The one who invests in emerging tech? Cathy Wood? Yup, dumped money into ARK, her fund. So I basically threw away a ton of money on the above. Never made a dime in China. Cathy was more expensive than a Top Floor Bellagio Hooker who gave an incurable disease. But I kinda forgot the point. The point was that I was looking to hit something big. So while I was moaning and groaning about all the losses, I had a few hundred grand tossed into META, Tesla and LRCX. you don't see this until later. In fact, really don't get perspective until I am writing it NOW.

So I probably lost $400K or more from all that EV and Chinese crap. And Cathy. Didn't even get a happy ending from her. But looking back? I got back into Apple and am up about 35% over the last few years. $100K There. Amazon. Same. Google. Also up 30-40% but didn't buy a lot. up $50K. I didn't dump my dog IBM because with this new aggressive approach I thought they might be an AI winner. And after years of doing nothing, it doubled. $500K gain. LRCX I threw about $300K in and it's mirrored NVIDIA. Up a milly. META, didn't want to own it and was too stupid to know how to get out of those puts and forced to buy an overpriced META at an average of $150-$185. It's at $700 now up a milly. Tesla forced to buy at $230 and it's up a hundred, or about $400K. TQQQ. When forced out of Apple, I said ah screw it, let's ride the market. Dumped my 1.4 million from the 10 after tax 10 year rocket ship ride on Apple into TQQ ruing either the end of Trump or beginning of Biden. Bought at $31. It's at $83. 2.2 mil for the good guys.

And then all the silly option games. Which mostly have turned into selling calls on what I already own. So the main risk is being forced to sell out for a good price but not as good as I COULD have gotten.

Why do all this? Because I thought I had enough to retire on. And for kicks and giggles I figured I would try to find the next Apple, the next Google, and see if something clicked and if I could become super rich. $5 million was great. No complaints. But what if it could be $40 million? Wouldn't that be something? Maybe I could buy a couple politicians with that, who knows.

The point is that I decided to play money with what was beyond $5 million. What is strange is that I no longer see $5 million as the nest egg. Now that it's grown and its way more, now suddenly I am protective of the new level. Now suddenly I am like "well, I really would not want to see it dip below $15 million" and all that. This is just stock market portfolio stuff. So what now? Do i start to cash out of these high fliers? Find new ones? Pay the incredible taxes I would owe? Sell all those dogs I mentioned above that I truly took a bath on? I am $300,000 underwater on CHPT. That sucks. Do I take the L as Pasadena never does? I could use the write off and could skip the daily reminder of my failure there. I have a $400K loss in PSEC though they paid major dividends for year. $100K loss in WBD Warner Bros. Their streaming was the one failure. Good work Java. I even have lost on Intel, which is hard to do. I have always lost on Intel. I am slightly upside down on BP. How do you lose money on an oil company the last 15 years? Ask me, I did it.

So yeah, where to go from here? I'll probably stay put and just recognize that much of my wealth now is in those high fliers that make fast money and lose it as fast. Much as I have been celebrating getting out from these calls one at a time? META, TESLA etc? I lost $300,000 on paper yesterday. Boo.

Excellent post Java.

“ I could decide that's a decidedly cowardly and weak approach. One that just worries about what you have rather than what you can build.” 100% , complacency is an enemy of growth.

So is fear, the pot of gold is behind the shadow of fear. My life mantra.

Consumer staples. Coke. Pepsi. Oil companies Johnson and Johnson. Verizon but they’ve just popped up from $39 where I told that dude to buy. August? It’s at $42 now think. Still good dividend.

Anyway those are the types you’re thinking.

Yeah, good suggestions. History shows some stocks do better in challenging times.

like companies with a history of increasing dividends?