CRASH! March by far was the worst month of my investing career. At the bottom I was down nearly $50,000 or approximately 29%. This was a better performance than the broader market, which saw even steeper declines! The energy and travel sectors collapsed. Boeing, one of America’s largest, most important companies lost … [Read more...]
Coronavirus Batters Stocks
Sooner or later we were bound to have a nasty correction. I wasn’t sure what the catalyst would be, but I knew it was coming. We discussed, in subsequent posts, how I thought it might have to do with politics. Instead, a novel virus with origins in Wuhan, China has spread across the world. Thankfully, China now appears to … [Read more...]
Target is #1
In September 2016 I acquired Target’s stock in the upper 60s. This was shortly after the company went “political” and sparked a boycott from conservative groups. In addition, the company was facing stiff competition from Amazon and other retailers were failing everywhere. I watched the stock fall into the lower 50s. As it collapsed further, I … [Read more...]
Commission Free Trades
Over the course of this blog I’ve discussed how my goal was to deploy $2000 into the stock market. This typically took the form of one position, maybe two. However, in the past few days TD Ameritrade opted to eliminate its $6.95 trading fee. Schwab initially cut its trading fee to $0 to better compete with Robinhood. Other brokers, including … [Read more...]
Vaping Ban Batters Juul
I recently added Altria to my portfolio citing the transformation of its business and low valuation. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a falling knife, with the stock falling almost every day since I bought it. The concerns are threefold; high debt, declining cigarette sales, and a vaping ban. Over the past several months, there have been an … [Read more...]
Recession Fears
In my last post we discussed the slowdown in the industrial sector and how it is affecting companies like 3M. However, on a global scale, other sectors appear to be contracting. More specifically, we’re seeing a mild recession in Germany and growth in China slowing dramatically. The U.S. appears to be the bright spot. Yes, industrial companies … [Read more...]