M1 Financing Investing Help

[moguldreamer]

Originally Posted by phoenixrising3131

However, things are where they are and I'm down 30% from my start 2 1/2 years ago. I am 44 and want to right the ship in the right way. I don't want to be rash and sell everything off, but I don't want to hold on for dear life if something is a lost cause.

I need some encouragement and some guidance on how to do so. I am attaching all of the holdings and would appreciate any POSITIVE direction. I know there are a lot of stocks here, but a good eye may help turn this around. I am open to different areas (dividend stocks, mutual funds, etc)

To keep things in perspective, I have a wife and an 8-year-old son and am at aiming at retirement in 20 years or less.

Thank you all for your input in advance as I have just let this sit and want to position myself in a better place.

Missing data: Can you create a simple excel spreadsheet that shows the percentage of your total portfolio for each line item? For example, if your Southwest Airlines holding is only, say, one tenth of one percentage point, you'll get advice that is different than if Southwest Airlines represents, say, 40% of your portfolio.

Your total portfolio does not appear to be well diversified (for example, way too many airlines) - but the only way to know for sure is to know what percentage of your investments are in broad index funds vs. individual stocks. However, it might just be that you own a single share of each of those airlines "just for fun" and they represent a non-material percentage of the whole pie.

[FIRE42]

Here's my advice:

1) Don't sell anything right now. Wait until it gets closer to year-end to reassess.
2) Add to your S&P500 fund. I noticed you have 2 Vanguard funds so it may be best to stick with Vanguard and not add to the iShares and SPY positions since they're basically redundant to VOO, and SPY has a higher expense ratio than VOO.
3) If you want to add to some of your individual stock positions, only add to those that have a gain* in your account.
4) For #3 above, I would not add to the airlines. I would add to your positions in Apple, Microsoft, Google, Home Depot, Costco, and Lowes.
5) * If you have long-term conviction in any of your other picks, e.g. Tesla, I would dollar cost average a small amount to just one of those stocks. I'm biased on Tesla, so that's why I wanted to add this "*" to #3 above as this is my largest position. Additionally, buying just 1 share will dramatically change the % that you're down right now.
6) Once you're profitable on QQQ and VUG, I would add to them on a continual basis similar to your VOO position. Excellent funds!
7) For #1 above, the goal for me would be to sell many of the losing positions as they break even or if it makes sense to create a tax loss at year-end. I mention this only because you currently hold A LOT of positions. More than 10 to 12 is just too many IMHO when you have VOO, VUG, and QQQ.
8) I personally wouldn't worry about dividend stocks since most of your positions don't offer a dividend, or it's minimal if they do. So stick with the companies and funds you already have; great choices in the mix!

I applaud your focus on the long-term wealth of your family, and I'll leave you with this quote:

“The best time to invest in the market is when you have money. This is because history suggests it is not timing which matters, it is time.” - John Templeton

[phoenixrising3131]

Originally Posted by moguldreamer

Missing data: Can you create a simple excel spreadsheet that shows the percentage of your total portfolio for each line item? For example, if your Southwest Airlines holding is only, say, one tenth of one percentage point, you'll get advice that is different than if Southwest Airlines represents, say, 40% of your portfolio.

Your total portfolio does not appear to be well diversified (for example, way too many airlines) - but the only way to know for sure is to know what percentage of your investments are in broad index funds vs. individual stocks. However, it might just be that you own a single share of each of those airlines "just for fun" and they represent a non-material percentage of the whole pie.

Name of Stock/Fund Current % of Total Portfolio Gain/Loss since Start of Investment (1/15/21)

VOO 9.60% 10.53%

GOOG 6.40% 24.14%

IVV 5.70% 10.69%

AAL 5.40% 8.44%

AAPL 5.40% 16.74%

UAL 4.80% 17.84%

DAL 4.50% -1.18%

MSFT 3.80% 23.57%

SAVE 3.60% -22.88%

WMT 3.60% -1.19%

LUV 3.40% -22.84%

AMZN 3.30% -27.74%

SPY 2.80% 10.46%

META 2.70% -25.45%

BA 2.60% 0.11%

VUG 2.50% -3.79%

QQQ 2.50% -0.84%

TSLA 2.50% -32.32%

NIO 2.10% -76.34%

KLAC 2.00% 39.09%

SQ 1.70% -61.90%

ATVI 1.70% -14.22%

TEAM 1.60% -18.75%

HD 1.50% 25.23%

TGT 1.40% -6.75%

SE 1.30% -67.84%

COST 1.20% 44.75%

JNJ 1.20% 3.69%

ABT 1.10% 0.31%

LOW 1.10% 30.97%

SHOP 0.90% -54.04%

NOW 0.80% -5.81%

NFLX 0.80% -28.39%

TLRY 0.80% -79.14%

ADBE 0.70% -16.16%

CGC 0.60% -85.20%

AQN 0.50% -55.23%

SOLO 0.40% -85.66%

WKHS 0.30% -89.70%

CRNC 0.30% -73.72%

TDOC 0.20% -85.41%

PINS 0.20% -59.86%

OKTA 0.10% -69.47%

AMC 0.10% 125.21%

CHGG 0.10% -78.73%

ROKU 0.10% -84.71%

BYND 0.10% -86.80%

100.00% -21.92%

[phoenixrising3131]

I added some details to make it more relevant. Sorry for the formatting the site decided to use since Excel was being a pain this evening. Any help and comments would be great. As you can see, many of these stocks have pretty big losses. I'm sure I should have gotten out earlier, but now is time to refocus and put energy and attention where I can to turn this thing around. I appreciate the comments and suggestions to this point!

[leastprime]

JMO
Holding individual stocks should be limited to just a handful, monitored, outside of qualified accounts, discretionary money today and next +5 years.
YMMV

disclaimer:
I do own individual stocks. All discretionary. Retired.