Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

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rossington
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by rossington »

Northern Flicker wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 9:27 pm It is uncompensated risk. The expected return of an individual stock does not compensate you for taking the risks unique to that stock.
I understand this, but the argument is not universal. For example if I bought JNJ in 1993 it has done very well vs. VFINX.
IMHO if the OP wants to invest HIS money in individual stocks and he feels his research about his selections are justified then why try to talk him out of it? Several others above have indicated their reasoning for holding a percentage of their portfolio in individual stocks.
"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." Winston Churchill.
clip651
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by clip651 »

Darth Vanguard wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 8:19 pm
Either way I'd be at 20% for the LTCG.
Unless you will be in a lower tax bracket later, tax law changes in your favor, or you hold these until you die and your heirs get the step up, that's just how it is. That portion of the gain isn't really yours. Same for gains on index funds and ETFs for that matter.

If you want to change strategy and exit or partially exit individual stocks, sooner is better once they are long term gains. Unless you think there is a crash coming for some of your stocks, and you want try to tax loss harvest them. But then you have to hope you lose money.

best wishes,
cj
clip651
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by clip651 »

rossington wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 1:42 am
Northern Flicker wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 9:27 pm It is uncompensated risk. The expected return of an individual stock does not compensate you for taking the risks unique to that stock.
I understand this, but the argument is not universal. For example if I bought JNJ in 1993 it has done very well vs. VFINX.
IMHO if the OP wants to invest HIS money in individual stocks and he feels his research about his selections are justified then why try to talk him out of it? Several others above have indicated their reasoning for holding a percentage of their portfolio in individual stocks.
OP is worried they are addicted to individual stocks and posted here for advice. People are giving their advice. OP practically asked to be talked out of it. What OP does with the advice is up to them.
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Darth Vanguard
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by Darth Vanguard »

inbox788 wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 7:29 pm
Darth Vanguard wrote: Sat Nov 02, 2019 8:29 am
Since I assume this is in a taxable account, if you don't have huge gains, I would sell tax efficiently, and move 25% out of the 35% into vanguard ETFs like VTI.
It is taxable.

I started this mid 2018, with heavy buying in the 4Q, so I would have a meaningful tax hit. It will get a little better once 2020 rolls around and some of the STCG switches to LTCG.

Are you suggesting moving 25% out of the 35%, leaving 10% in individual stocks, or moving out just 1/4 of the 35%? I am guessing the former.
The tax problem is only going to get worse. Market is up about 20% from the dip end of last year and quickly recovered mostly by March 1, 2019. Since then, the market is up 7%. How have your holdings done since March 1?

Why 2020 and not mid 2019 to 4Q 2019 (now to end of year)? What's your expected capital tax rates this year and next? Does it make sense to split profits across tax years to stay below any thresholds?

I think it's better to pay taxes on 20% gains or less now on an individual stock and defer taxes on 100% or 200% gains in 10 years in VTI (that you can hold forever) than to be asking yourself what to do with 200% gains on an individual stock in 10 years.
28% YTD and 15% since March 1st.
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inbox788
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by inbox788 »

Darth Vanguard wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 11:26 am28% YTD and 15% from March 1st.
I'd infer from that kind of performance that you're overweight technology. XLK https://www.google.com/search?q=xlk&tbm=fin
Finance beat the average too this year. XLF
Other years, other sectors too the lead, such as health/pharma/biotech. XBI/XPH

https://novelinvestor.com/sector-performance/

Basically, the first 2 months matched the market (end of dip/recover), and your riskier, more concentrated position in technology is outperperforming the market by 8% (but not the sector fund). As the unrealized gains increase, you get further locked into this idiosyncratic portfolio. When tech fails to perform as it has in the past, your portfolio is likely to suffer along. If you really want (not recommended), you can get some similar benefit without single stock risk by investing in the tech sector or tech heavy nasdaq index QQQ.

Anyway, I have a few remaining individual stocks that have done alright, but I wish for tax reasons, that I'd have sold them and was holding unrealized gains in a diversified index fund instead of a few individual stocks I don't care for anymore. Whatever reasons I had for originally buying them have long past. I know some folks are trading individual stocks inside tax advantaged retirement plans to avoid the tax problem, but I haven't crossed that line.

https://www.investopedia.com/investing/ ... t-account/
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by Darth Vanguard »

inbox788 wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 12:32 pm
Darth Vanguard wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 11:26 am28% YTD and 15% from March 1st.
I'd infer from that kind of performance that you're overweight technology. XLK https://www.google.com/search?q=xlk&tbm=fin
Finance beat the average too this year. XLF
Other years, other sectors too the lead, such as health/pharma/biotech. XBI/XPH

https://novelinvestor.com/sector-performance/

Basically, the first 2 months matched the market (end of dip/recover), and your riskier, more concentrated position in technology is outperperforming the market by 8% (but not the sector fund). As the unrealized gains increase, you get further locked into this idiosyncratic portfolio. When tech fails to perform as it has in the past, your portfolio is likely to suffer along. If you really want (not recommended), you can get some similar benefit without single stock risk by investing in the tech sector or tech heavy nasdaq index QQQ.

Anyway, I have a few remaining individual stocks that have done alright, but I wish for tax reasons, that I'd have sold them and was holding unrealized gains in a diversified index fund instead of a few individual stocks I don't care for anymore. I know some folks are trading individual stocks inside tax advantaged retirement plans, but I haven't crossed that line.

https://www.investopedia.com/investing/ ... t-account/
Technology is only about 7% of the portfolio.

The out-performance is due to buying at an opportune time - 4th Q of last year and few timely acquisitions this year. I realize this is inflating the results. I plan to allocate 2020 contributions to the fund side as opposed to the individual stock side. So 2020 will be the first static year I will have for a comparison between the stocks and an index.
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inbox788
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by inbox788 »

Darth Vanguard wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 12:50 pmThe out-performance is due to buying at an opportune time - 4th Q of last year and few timely acquisitions this year. I realize this is inflating the results. I plan to allocate 2020 contributions to the fund side as opposed to the individual stock side. So 2020 will be the first static year I will have for a comparison between the stocks and an index.
Last year performance shouldn't impact YTD or Mar 1 to now results. [There wasn't much change in March, so comparing calendar Q1 vs Q2/Q3 should be similar]

What were your 3 biggest positions and 3 biggest winners YTD? Aside from a dip in price, was there criteria for the selection?

You're buying specific stocks at the moment for a reason. How long is the persistence of that reason? BA stock is being significantly impacted by the 737-max issues, so if you have a belief it will go one way or the other, you can put on a trade, but 1-2 year and 20 years from now, what will be the continuing impact? I chose Mar. 1 as an arbitrary dividing point between recovery from last year and most of this year performance, trying to separate individual stock performance and portfolio performance attributable to the dip vs a year's ebbs and flow. By next year, all will be history, and we'll be looking for other tradeable events. Do you consider the leadership changes (Steve Ballmer, Mark Hurd, Tim Cook, etc.) or the volatility that sometimes accompanies it?
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by Darth Vanguard »

inbox788 wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 7:29 pm
Darth Vanguard wrote: Sat Nov 02, 2019 8:29 am
Since I assume this is in a taxable account, if you don't have huge gains, I would sell tax efficiently, and move 25% out of the 35% into vanguard ETFs like VTI.
It is taxable.

I started this mid 2018, with heavy buying in the 4Q, so I would have a meaningful tax hit. It will get a little better once 2020 rolls around and some of the STCG switches to LTCG.

Are you suggesting moving 25% out of the 35%, leaving 10% in individual stocks, or moving out just 1/4 of the 35%? I am guessing the former.
The tax problem is only going to get worse. Market is up about 20% from the dip end of last year and quickly recovered mostly by March 1, 2019. Since then, the market is up 7%. How have your holdings done since March 1?

Why 2020 and not mid 2019 to 4Q 2019 (now to end of year)? What's your expected capital tax rates this year and next? Does it make sense to split profits across tax years to stay below any thresholds?

I think it's better to pay taxes on 20% gains or less now on an individual stock and defer taxes on 100% or 200% gains in 10 years in VTI (that you can hold forever) than to be asking yourself what to do with 200% gains on an individual stock in 10 years.

One more thing regarding my thought process on the taxes:

The ultimate goal of these dollars is to fund an early retirement (10-15 years from now) if I decide to go that route. I will have no pension income. If I do retire early, I will need to fill the gap between retiring and being able to draw on SS or from IRA's. Assuming the tax laws don't change, I can realize roughly $100,000 in LTCG minus any dividends and still be at the 0% capital gains rate. This is how I would plan to unravel the tax situation.

In another response, you asked about the criteria for buying the stocks other than a price drop. I am looking at companies that I would not mind holding for that 10-15 year period, all things being equal. If circumstances change for a stock between now and then, I would reevaluate and adjust accordingly. But the primary idea would be to only sell when the funds are needed.
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arcticpineapplecorp.
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by arcticpineapplecorp. »

rossington wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 1:16 am
arcticpineapplecorp. wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 2:01 pm At least I've provided evidence in this post to substantiate my claims that buying individual stocks is the Loser's Game
Thank you for the links...appreciate it.
But I must ask are you adamantly saying that no one should invest in individual stocks because it is impossible to increase the value of their investment and it will 100% of the time result in a loss?
no I would never say that. In fact William Bernstein said it better than I ever could:
“...concentrating your portfolio in a few stocks maximizes your chances of getting rich. Unfortunately, it also maximizes your chance of becoming poor. Owning the whole market—indexing—minimizes your chances of both outcomes by guaranteeing you the market return.” (The Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein, pg. 102).
So of course if you could pick right lottery ticket, you will beat the market. But there are so many odds against you it's not even worth trying. That doesn't stop people of course. Not to mention the fact that so many people who might beat the market don't consider the amount of risk they took to do so, and if they would look at their risk adjusted returns would likely find that even though they might have beat the market (over a short time) they still weren't rewarded for the amount of risk they took.

But I often find the people who swing for the fences are people who say they have "play money" but haven't even amassed enough to retire yet. So they're divided in their goals or they're trying to reach their goal (save for retirement) in split ways (the sensible way, owning the market and buy and holding for the long term and investing consistently) and at the same time siphoning off money that should be used for that purpose to essentially gamble with.

But people who can least afford to lose money are usually the ones spending their precious few dollars on lottery tickets where there's a negative expected return.

It seems homo economicus is extinct indeed.

People usually only tell you about their winners. You may do the same. Who wouldn't want to forget about their losers? If you're honest with yourself what you probably find long term is a very few stock picks do well, some do poorly and most do average. It's not likey you'll do better than average overall, but people don't look at their portfolio overall. They focus on their 10 baggers or whatever you call them. But what about all the picks that did average or below average. Oh, don't look at those. How bout that 10 bagger!

you keep making the point that owning stocks improves your returns, but there's no evidence for that in the aggregate. On the margin it of course will happen for a chosen few (there are always right tails to any distribution of normal returns), but it's not likely since most will be average before costs (and below average after costs). But everybody believes they're above average. They're not. If they realized that, they wouldn't have what's known as overconfidence bias.

Most fund managers underperform the market (only 20% outperform in any given year but don't continue that trend). If million dollar managers with supercomputers and a crack research team of tens or hundreds of analysts who work 60+ hours a week to try to beat the market can't do that, what makes you think you can?

If you believe you will beat the market long term, you have fallen victim to overconfidence bias.
It's hard to accept the truth when the lies were exactly what you wanted to hear. Investing is simple, but not easy. Buy, hold & rebalance low cost index funds & manage taxable events. Asking Portfolio Questions | Wiki
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bluquark
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by bluquark »

arcticpineapplecorp. wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 5:03 pm what you probably find long term is a very few stock picks do well, some do poorly and most do average. It's not likey you'll do better than average overall, but people don't look at their portfolio overall.
I think it's important in this discussion to distinguish between the two types of average: mean and median.

If you pick an individual stock at random, you are most likely to get something close to the median return. But this underperforms the mean return because 4% of stocks account for the majority of returns.

Note that if "poorly" is defined to be a halving in valuation whereas "well" is defined to be a doubling, you are actually much more likely to land on a stock that performs well. Spectacular collapses in stocks are the rarest outcomes: mediocrity is dominant. This is why most individual stock investors who do not bother to diligently compute a comparison with a benchmark index tend to be pretty happy with their returns.

The real problem with passably-well-diversified individual stock portfolios is more subtle. You are probably getting the "average" return with your 10-stock portfolio -- but the mediocre kind of average, not the good one that index funds get.
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clip651
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by clip651 »

Darth Vanguard wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:29 pm
One more thing regarding my thought process on the taxes:

The ultimate goal of these dollars is to fund an early retirement (10-15 years from now) if I decide to go that route. I will have no pension income. If I do retire early, I will need to fill the gap between retiring and being able to draw on SS or from IRA's. Assuming the tax laws don't change, I can realize roughly $100,000 in LTCG minus any dividends and still be at the 0% capital gains rate. This is how I would plan to unravel the tax situation.

In another response, you asked about the criteria for buying the stocks other than a price drop. I am looking at companies that I would not mind holding for that 10-15 year period, all things being equal. If circumstances change for a stock between now and then, I would reevaluate and adjust accordingly. But the primary idea would be to only sell when the funds are needed.
Just want to point out, you can do the same process for funding early retirement with money invested in index funds rather than (or in addition to, if you prefer) individual stocks. If in a taxable account, and assuming you make money over the years (market and/or your individual stocks go up) you will have something to sell and pay capital gains tax on. The advantage with index funds, is you won't have to spend (in my mind, waste, but that may not be your opinion) tracking your stocks, deciding how much of which to sell when you need to liquidate some for spending, tracking how diversified you are, etc. With the index funds, you could just sell some shares of a total stock fund instead. And with an index fund, you won't be caught needing to sell before you want to (and take any capital gains if a long term holding that had done well) if a company is spiraling towards the drain or you otherwise want to exit the position.

Also, if your early retirement date is 10-15 years from now, then your holding period for some of the stocks will be longer. How many years will you be early retired, before drawing on your tax deferred accounts and collecting social security? Add those years to your holding period. So now you are looking to hold individual stocks for 15, 20, 30 or more years, depending on how young you're hoping to early retire. So that's a lot of years of tracking your individual stocks. Up to you if you want to take that investing risk and spend the time doing that.

Big picture, though ... if you're maxing your tax deferred space (with index funds?) and then also investing quite a bit in taxable, and hoping to early retire, you apparently have a very good income and a very good savings rate. So it's up to you how much risk you want to take with individual stocks vs. index funds. Just be aware you may be taking uncompensated risks. You can swing for the fences, and strike out instead. I guess you can always just keep working if that happens. So figure out how much of your money and time you want to put into individual stocks vs. index funds that will capture market return. Also take a good look at your overall asset allocation, and be sure you have an appropriate amount of bonds for your goals and risk tolerance, as well.

best wishes,
cj
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by Darth Vanguard »

clip651 wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 6:20 pm
Darth Vanguard wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:29 pm
One more thing regarding my thought process on the taxes:

The ultimate goal of these dollars is to fund an early retirement (10-15 years from now) if I decide to go that route. I will have no pension income. If I do retire early, I will need to fill the gap between retiring and being able to draw on SS or from IRA's. Assuming the tax laws don't change, I can realize roughly $100,000 in LTCG minus any dividends and still be at the 0% capital gains rate. This is how I would plan to unravel the tax situation.

In another response, you asked about the criteria for buying the stocks other than a price drop. I am looking at companies that I would not mind holding for that 10-15 year period, all things being equal. If circumstances change for a stock between now and then, I would reevaluate and adjust accordingly. But the primary idea would be to only sell when the funds are needed.
Just want to point out, you can do the same process for funding early retirement with money invested in index funds rather than (or in addition to, if you prefer) individual stocks. If in a taxable account, and assuming you make money over the years (market and/or your individual stocks go up) you will have something to sell and pay capital gains tax on. The advantage with index funds, is you won't have to spend (in my mind, waste, but that may not be your opinion) tracking your stocks, deciding how much of which to sell when you need to liquidate some for spending, tracking how diversified you are, etc. With the index funds, you could just sell some shares of a total stock fund instead. And with an index fund, you won't be caught needing to sell before you want to (and take any capital gains if a long term holding that had done well) if a company is spiraling towards the drain or you otherwise want to exit the position.

Also, if your early retirement date is 10-15 years from now, then your holding period for some of the stocks will be longer. How many years will you be early retired, before drawing on your tax deferred accounts and collecting social security? Add those years to your holding period. So now you are looking to hold individual stocks for 15, 20, 30 or more years, depending on how young you're hoping to early retire. So that's a lot of years of tracking your individual stocks. Up to you if you want to take that investing risk and spend the time doing that.

Big picture, though ... if you're maxing your tax deferred space (with index funds?) and then also investing quite a bit in taxable, and hoping to early retire, you apparently have a very good income and a very good savings rate. So it's up to you how much risk you want to take with individual stocks vs. index funds. Just be aware you may be taking uncompensated risks. You can swing for the fences, and strike out instead. I guess you can always just keep working if that happens. So figure out how much of your money and time you want to put into individual stocks vs. index funds that will capture market return. Also take a good look at your overall asset allocation, and be sure you have an appropriate amount of bonds for your goals and risk tolerance, as well.

best wishes,
cj
Tax deferred is all at VG, most of it index.

I am getting very close to just undoing the whole thing and going the fund route. I really went over the portfolio today, and the more I looked at it, the more I realized that there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to any of it. And as many have said, it won't get better as time goes on.
The roughly 2.5% YTD outperformance only happened within the last two weeks. The rest of the time I was keeping pace with or slightly behind the S&P - more frequently behind.

In about a month, roughly half of my remaining STCG will switch to LTCG, so I can get out without too much pain.

I just need to stop getting creative and let time and savings rate do their thing. I realize that now. I printed out a complete list of all my tax lots and will start laying out a plan tonight. VDARTH is dead.

Awesome input from everyone.

Thank you all.
May the Force be with you.
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Taylor Larimore
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by Taylor Larimore »

Darth Vanguard wrote: I am getting very close to just undoing the whole thing and going the fund route. I really went over the portfolio today, and the more I looked at it, the more I realized that there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to any of it. And as many have said, it won't get better as time goes on.
The roughly 2.5% YTD outperformance only happened within the last two weeks. The rest of the time I was keeping pace with or slightly behind the S&P - more frequently behind.
Darth Vanguard:

I am pleased that the Bogleheads have helped put you on the road to investment success.

Best wishes.
Taylor
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by Nowizard »

What you are essentially saying is that you are creating your own mutual fund as do professional fund managers but without making the analyses they make before purchasing a specific stock. If you are comfortable with that and feel you can do as well as a professional manager or accept the consequences, then that is a choice. At the same time your comment about addiction can reflect either what is called "Denial by admission" or a legitimate concern you plan to address with advice and support."Denial by admission" is a statement that focuses on knowing a problem exists rather than focusing on what to do about it.

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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by Investnewbie01 »

There is absolutely nothing wrong in ownership a spread of stocks, say 15, after all that what mutual funds do. As long as it is a small percentage of your total and a loss ( unlikely) is factored in. You should be an investor for the long haul, say 5 to 10 years and always reinvest dividends.
I started 3 years ago and mostly play with “house money” once shares hit 100%. I look for “cult” companies such as Nike, Apple, Microsoft,Tesla, ( although missed the boat on that one, was going to buy at $400, but it only pulled back to $412) Personally don’t think the product is good!
I have a very healthy potential gain, far outstripping the S & P 500, despite my second biggest holding being Boeing ( currently 26% down, it will come back.) My jewel is Shopify which I bought heavily at $80, after reading an article about “the surfer dude”. I believe it will easily hit $3k.LatelyI have speculated about the car industry and alternative fuel. Small amounts only. I did own Plug and bought at $2, but sold it just before it rose! Did make a very small profit and bought it again at $20, as believe hydrogen is the fuel of the future. I also bought Aston Martin at 80 cents, despite my trading platform warning it was risky. However I follow F1 and if they invest, along with Stroll, it is not for charity! Currently I am up 50%.
The key is not to wobble when the market nose dives!
Bottom line as long as you are earning more than the inflation rate ( most, alas don’t know what it is, you are winning! It should be easy to attain 30% in the current market. Above all it should be fun! I started with 5k and although I have added to it, don’t intend to increase my holding, apart from in my TIRA, ( bought Shopify at $400.)
Food for thought.
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by Luckywon »

Darth Vanguard wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 7:52 pm
I am getting very close to just undoing the whole thing and going the fund route. I really went over the portfolio today, and the more I looked at it, the more I realized that there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to any of it. And as many have said, it won't get better as time goes on.
The roughly 2.5% YTD outperformance only happened within the last two weeks. The rest of the time I was keeping pace with or slightly behind the S&P - more frequently behind.
Excellent thinking. Don't be dissuaded by active investors posting their success stories here. There is an enormous selection bias with generally only the ones who fared well telling their tales, which are unlikely the full/unvarnished story.
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Watty
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by Watty »

FYI, this is a two year old thead that restarted.
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by Luckywon »

Watty wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:42 pm FYI, this is a two year old thead that restarted.
:oops:
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by Darth Vanguard »

Luckywon wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:53 pm
Watty wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:42 pm FYI, this is a two year old thead that restarted.
:oops:
OP here.

For an update, I am completely out of individual stocks.
May the Force be with you.
Luckywon
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by Luckywon »

Darth Vanguard wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:25 pm
Luckywon wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:53 pm
Watty wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:42 pm FYI, this is a two year old thead that restarted.
:oops:
OP here.

For an update, I am completely out of individual stocks.
Great update 😁
am
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by am »

Darth Vanguard wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:25 pm
Luckywon wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:53 pm
Watty wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:42 pm FYI, this is a two year old thead that restarted.
:oops:
OP here.

For an update, I am completely out of individual stocks.
What made you decide to do that?
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by Darth Vanguard »

am wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:35 pm
Darth Vanguard wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:25 pm
Luckywon wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:53 pm
Watty wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:42 pm FYI, this is a two year old thead that restarted.
:oops:
OP here.

For an update, I am completely out of individual stocks.
What made you decide to do that?
Simplicity.
May the Force be with you.
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Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by ApeAttack »

Darth Vanguard wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:25 pm
Luckywon wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:53 pm
Watty wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:42 pm FYI, this is a two year old thead that restarted.
:oops:
OP here.

For an update, I am completely out of individual stocks.
Did you put it all into pumpkins futures? If so, remember to sell before October 31.
May all your index funds gain +0.5% today.
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JoMoney
Posts: 16260
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 5:31 am

Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by JoMoney »

ApeAttack wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 4:07 pm...
Did you put it all into pumpkins futures? If so, remember to sell before October 31.
They've been going up the whole month of October, and I've got a feeling they'll peak right around January, then BANG that's when I'll cash in!
:greedy :D
"To achieve satisfactory investment results is easier than most people realize; to achieve superior results is harder than it looks." - Benjamin Graham
am
Posts: 4232
Joined: Sun Sep 30, 2007 9:55 am

Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by am »

Darth Vanguard wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 3:39 pm
am wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:35 pm
Darth Vanguard wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:25 pm
Luckywon wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:53 pm
Watty wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:42 pm FYI, this is a two year old thead that restarted.
:oops:
OP here.

For an update, I am completely out of individual stocks.
What made you decide to do that?
Simplicity.
I have 95% of portfolio in 3 funder for simplicity and 5% in single stocks, etfs, and other speculative bets. The complex 5% has been entertaining.
pantsmachine
Posts: 55
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2015 11:21 pm

Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by pantsmachine »

I've been running a 5 year test. Single stocks vs Vanguard. Vauguard has by far outstripped the compounded returns of the stocks. So much so that I am over the next few years selling up on the stocks and moving to Vanguard&cash.
Investnewbie01
Posts: 99
Joined: Tue Jun 06, 2017 12:33 pm

Re: Worried I am getting addicted to individual stocks.

Post by Investnewbie01 »

I understand that this site is vehemently against owning individual stocks, but the 5% quota mentioned is a good reference. Most of the individual stocks I own are also in Vanguard Mutual funds. I have posted my loses which is part of the process. I took a gamble with the legendary Cathy Wood ARKK ETF , at the wrong time and am currently down. Yes I have had “Amazon like “ success with Shopify, but my other shares have passed or near the 100% gains in 3 years. Of my recent forage into 4 car technologies, I am hopeful that one will be successful. After all my investments here are probably less than many spend at Starbucks or on sodas in a year. “Horses for courses”. Above all it is fun!
A friend who has recently sold his rental property did seek advice from Vanguard, but was not impressed, he will invest, ( with advice from here) himself.
Finally, many here invest to pass down. I fully intend to spend the majority of my assets while alive! My individual shares are a boat and a Lakeside house (to assist) and are on course for realization within the next 4 years. Of course it could all go pear shape, but as long as the returns are above inflation ( I follow the rate closely) I am well happy.
I started with absolutely no knowledge, ( some may say that is still the case!), but found Mootley Fool and Mad Money informative, completely aware they are commercial entities. The former introduced me to Shopify the later recommends S & P index funds.
I had knee surgery 3 years ago and recently meet my physio, he moaned that he hadn’t taken my advice re Shopify! I had told him he should put his exorbitant fees into it, but didn’t!
Way back,I dodged a bullet re annuities as the salesman had a domestic emergency! So thankful!
What is good about this site is the wealth of knowledge!
The bottom line is Enjoy life, as you are along time dead! :happy
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