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Substack time! Finally getting started
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about feeling like an imposted and feeling like no one would want to read my writing, and a few users encouraged me to just do it anyways, and block out the noise. Thank you to those who gave that encouragement, as I am finally trying to take my writing seriously! I've completed my Substack setup to start writing more long-form content there. I'll always be engaging here, as I enjoy the community I've found on Commonstock, and will definitely be summarizing my posts here, but for those who are interested in following my journey and the documentation of my research, please consider subscribing to my newsletter and I'd love any feedback on my first post!
Here is the link to the full post, and I'll summarize below:
For those who don't know me, I've been an active investor since the Great COVID Crash of 2020. While that's not a ton of time, I feel it's a long enough time to share some of my investment lessons (aka past mistakes) and how my strategy has evolved over time. From penny stocks to trading options, I've lost money in all kinds of imaginable ways so far! These losses were definitely the hardest and best way to learn some of those lessons, but the biggest takeaway I've had is that investing needs to be a deeply personal journey, and you need to find an approach that mirrors your tolerance for risk. I've been building my own playbook, and can identify it into four main parts:
- Mega Caps (20-25%): I'm focusing on mega-cap stocks like $AMZN and $GOOG. Rather than buying VOO or QQQ, I focused on the mega caps that I think can drive the most future value going forward, and ideally one or both of them issue dividends at some point, allowing me to earn a cash return from these investments.
- Thematic ETFs (12-15%): I hold ETFs like $CIBR for cybersecurity and $ESPO for gaming/esports. These allow me to diversify within specific trends without the need to pick individual stocks.
- Dividend Growth Focus (10-15%): I consider myself a growth investor, but I also have a portion dedicated to dividend-focused blue-chip stocks like $HSY, $APH, $CPRT, and $V. These provide stability and consistent dividends over the long term, and act as an anchor to my growth stocks, which tend to have higher beta and bring much more risk to the overall portfolio.
- Growth Stocks/Future Dividend Payers (45-55%): I'm interested in growth stocks that could potentially become dividend-paying companies. I hold stocks like $GFL and $ARIS in this category, not solely for their dividends, but for their potential growth, but am also invested in companies like $PLTR and $DUOL, which feel light years away from ever considering issuing dividends, but their growth potential and future value is what drew me to these positions, any dividends would just be a bonus.
I've recognized the need to adapt and change over time, especially as I've taken some losses. I will continue to tweak my approach, and if I gain more confidence in identifying winning growth stocks, I may lower my percentage of buckets 1-3, but that's why keeping this a flexible process is key.
I plan on this newsletter being more of a personal journal of my investing journey than anything, whether that be my research notes on specific positions, or an update on why I bought/sold something, or just observations of the markets as a whole. I hope people will find my notes add some value, but mostly I just needed an outlet for this hobby of mine, and a way to document what I'm thinking in a particular moment. Welcome aboard to those who choose to subscribe, and thank you to everyone for reading!
open.substack.com
My Investing Strategy
Around the time we were expecting our first son, I started writing online a bit about stocks, but due to the challenges of being a first-time parent and increased work responsibilities, I was unable to sustain that momentum and I’ve been more of a lurker than anything the past couple of years, consuming all sorts of paid and non-paid writing, but contributing very little until recently. Now that we’ve just welcomed our second son, I want to get back into writing, and the natural place to start is by reintroducing myself (especially since this is a new newsletter), as well as outline my strategy and my process, at least the current iteration of it.
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