Welcome! I decided to start this blog mostly to serve as a creative outlet. Writing has been something I’ve always wanted to try, but I don’t have any formal training, nor have I studied it at all. Like most acquired skills though, you learn by doing. I’ve heard that writing about your hobbies and interests is a good way to get started, so, here we go.

HOW WE GOT HERE

The primary focus of my musings will be an investment account I opened sometime in early 2017. At the time, I was engaged, no children, and not much to worry about in terms of financial obligations. Earlier that year, I decided it was time to replace my beloved 2004 Acura RSX Type S. I loved that car. It was the first car I purchased brand new, but after 13+ years and 176k hard miles, it was time for a change.

Each year I put away a little money for auto repairs and maintenance, but despite all the proper abuse inflicted upon a car that revs to 8k, aside from standard maintenance and a new clutch, the car was damn near bulletproof.  The money I set aside all those years for repairs just turned into a healthy down payment for my next car, a 2017 VW GTI.  

Prior to actually buying one, I gave serious consideration to trading the RSX for a GTI, twice! Ultimately, my preconceived notions about Volkswagen quality and reliability stopped me from pulling the trigger.  As they say though, the third time’s a charm.  Exhausting all my saved maintenance money for a downpayment, I took home the VW on Groundhog’s Day 2017.  I now had 3 years/36k miles to rebuild my repair and maintenance fund that I was absolutely sure would be necessary this time around.

The seed money for the new repair fund would come from the sale of the RSX. I listed it on the almighty Craigslist and had it sold for $4,400 the same afternoon.  This time however, I had a fresh idea.  The savings account that housed my auto repair fund paid some dog sh!t rate like .35%. Instead of sticking it in the bank and rotting for the next bunch of years, I opened a new investment account and planned to grow it that way.  Continuing my $25 weekly contributions, I was off and running. Hoping to rebuild in time to meet my first catastrophic post warranty VW repair head on.

FLASH FORWARD

A little over 7 years has gone by.  Thanks to new car shortages, Carvanna’s big brain mission to massively overpay for any and all used cars on the market, and a couple new additions to our family, the GTI is long gone.  The repair fund was left mostly untouched, and I stopped contributing to it about 2 years ago.  Growing much larger than its intended purpose, I didn’t feel the need to continue adding to it (at least until further notice).

In 2022 and 2023, I also dialed back much of my market participation. Young kids require lots of attention and focus, and I just didn’t have the energy or desire to actively participate in the stock market to the degree I have for the majority of my adult life. This year though (2024), I am slowly getting back to it, with a plan to use this blog as a creative outlet to keep me on track and interested again.

CURRENT HOLDINGS AND WHERE WE’RE GOING

As it stands today, the fund holds 4 positions and has a market value of $59,768 on total contributions of $10,900. Pretty successful run up.  Let’s not be fooled though, the bulk of these gains came from a few very favorable trades, and there have been some fairly stomach churning swings along the way as well.

Before I close, I’d like to touch base on these 4 open positions, you’ll see that BRK.B and CRWD were purchased quite a while ago. I don’t really pay too much attention to either one, as I don’t have much intention of liquidating those positions anytime soon. Obviously things can turn on a dime, and CRWD has been a rollercoaster multiple times since purchase, but that is very much part of the fun for me.

In regard to the two options positions. Much of the gains in this account were built by SHOP shares purchased in the early days of this portfolio. As such, I maintain a bit of a soft spot for that company, and wanted to capture more of its fast moving rips again. Unfortunately, it’s been mostly dips since I jumped back into it… DOCN is a stock a friend of mine mentioned to me a bunch of times, and I had also seen it pumped a bit in headlines by, I think, Motley Fool (LOL). I honestly don’t know much about it other than they provide cloud services, which I’m generally a fan of. I watched it move for a month or two and decided it was as good a vessel as any. Hasn’t exactly gone my way since purchase, but we’ll see where it goes. Both positions are finally green again as I write this, so that’s nice for now.

As time goes on you’ll notice that my strategies can be fairly unorthodox and not all that intuitive. I plan to talk more about my investing/trading theories and methodologies as I make new live trades. For now though, I am going to conclude this maiden post.