Investing -- July 18, 2024

Locator: 48183INV.

I sure hope folks are paying attention. This could be one of the biggest opportunities of an investing lifetime.

Data points to follow.

Apple.

Netflix. Link here.

TSM.

The Atlantic headline today. 

Two most important people on CNBC right now: Josh Brown and Jim Cramer.

Quick: what are you paying for a 5.5-oz can of sour cream and onion Pringles? Price can range from a dollar to $4.79.

Mine: $1.75. Look at that Instacart ... and yes, that's a 5.5-ounce cylinder. $4.79 vs $1.00 at Walmart. Maybe $2.00. I might have to ride my bike to Walmart tomorrow. By the way, anyone following WMT today.

I haven't had Pringles in ages, but when I saw the price, two for $3.49, it was a no-brainer.

WMT:

You know, it's funny. That MLB analogy (or something similar could be a great model for a high school finance course). Just saying.

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Rambling On Investing

We will start here, with baseball:

The MLB club team: 28 players, with a limit of 14 pitchers.

The farm team / the minor leagues / the major league reserve list: 40 players.

I watch CNBC religiously -- well, at least for the last two years -- I very seldom actually watch five or six hours on any given day, but maybe once a week, I will watch three hours in one day, but religiously I try to catch two one-hour shows each day: the Jim Cramer show first thing in the morning, and the half-time report, mid-day. 

Investing and the MLB: lessons an investor can learn from the MLB, including the new rules to speed up the game.

CNBC provides holdings by some of their contributors, including those on the "Halftime Report." Some have a few; some have a lot. Some are investors; some are traders; some do a bit of both.

In fact, the "60-40" rule --which applies the the equity - bond mix is better suited for one's portfolio: 60% investing; 40% trading.

I like to think as myself as an investor, 100%, but in fact, I'm probably closer to 80-20, although even the 20% is bought with a long-term horizon in mind.

So, having said, like the MLB, I like to hold about twenty equities in my long-term accounts, and about 20 companies being followed but not yet owned, but ready to be called up at a minute's notice. If a "new" equity is "called up" I like to sell something to keep my portfolio in the 20-ticker ballpark. No pun intended. 

In general, among the 20, I do not include the legacy holdings that I have had so long that it makes almost no sense to sell them as long as they remain great companies. With dividends over 40+ years, many of my oldest holdings -- still very good companies -- are trending toward a cost basis of $0.

Oh, I almost forgot: the MLB's new rules to speed up the game. One of the bigger lessons I've learned over forty years of investing: the downside of holding onto losers way too long. And waiting too long to bring up great companies in the reserves when they've got MOJO. 

Very important: watch those forty equities in the reserves, and be ready to invest when they get hot. If one is fully invested and doesn't have the cash necessary to buy, two options: a) raise money through tax loss harvesting; and/or, b) buying on margin. If I buy on margin it's with the expectation I will have the cash within seven days. Things have gotten easier since Schwab announced that, in general, they will close trades in one business rather than three business days.

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Disclaimer Briefly Reminder

• I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market, 
• I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 
• See disclaimer. This is not an investment site. 
• Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them.
• Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market, 
• I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple.