Stock Investing - Reality TV Style

I began looking at my blog posting over the last few years and my posts are wayyyyy down. Now there are simple reasons for this but as one takes on more responsibilities at work and family needs grows I have less and less time for writing. Oddly enough, I do want to address one thing with this post and that is that my time put towards doing my homework doesn't waiver but gets more efficient. It can't waiver because this is your lifeline into financial freedom...one of the pillars that I often blog about.  Now I'll give you the second reason why my posts have diminished a bit (little bit of a cop out)...the markets keeps streaking HIGHER and the HIGHER it gets the HARDER it is for me to find VALUE.  I'll give you an example...I won't give you my age but I grew up in an era where a standard candy bar was usually $0.50. and one could enjoy a Snickers, Reese's PB Cup, and even a pack of M&Ms for less than a dollar and if I I felt like a king...the king size was probably $1.00.  My search for value never waivers so in today's world so when I visit a store I don't bother looking at the candy bars...can't do it! I do the simple math and if I don't see a merchant getting close to my value threshold of 50 cents then I don't give in. Nice thing for me is I don't have a sweet tooth but when I find the occasional deal, I enjoy my Reese's cups.  Similarly, the stock market keeps shooting higher and I'm not finding very many candy bars to choose from. I keep looking but I don't give in unless on my terms.

Now for the Reality TV portion of this blog. I hope over the course of the next few months to change my blog up a bit. Instead of writing, I'd love to simply post a video blog and just talk to you about what I'm seeing. I have to be efficient with my time. I'm still researching a lot so I can't wait to share with you my thoughts on areas I want to invest in NEXT but only at candy bar prices.

I always tell people to start with what you know and venture out to areas you don't mind reading about. So my areas, which I've been keeping up with are:

CYBER SECURITY - Think Palo Alto Networks, FireEye, Cisco, Symantec, F5 Networks, Checkpoint, Cyberark, Fortinet
TECHNOLOGY - Apple, Alibaba, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Qorvo, Amazon, Qualcomm

FINANCIAL PAYMENTS - Paypal, Visa, MasterCard, Square, Stripe, Vantiv,

I'm not great at these areas but I also follow Retail, Pharmaceuticals, Telecom. 

Name Names: Over the last 12 months that small group of stock that have popped up on my radar have been: Verizon (Telecom), Teva (Pharma), Gilead (Pharma), Hertz (Retail-Auto), Paratek (Pharma), Nuance (Tech) and I own all of these names.

Buyer Beware: Then there are names that I watch and watch because it's like buying Fireworks after the 4th of July OR candy bars that have past expiration dates. Is it worth the risk and Are they still good often come up.  Who might that be: Twitter, Snapchat, BlueApron, Kroger, Under Armour, Dicks Sporting Goods, Foot Locker.  For these names I often don't buy at $.50, it's not worth the risk so I have to recalculate and see will they hit $.25 and is it worth it or will I get a stomach ache. For a select few I might bite, think Jack Dorsey (Twitter), Kroger (feeds middle class), and Under Armour (they have Steph Curry, enuff said).

I'm out.

Full Disclosure: I own Verizon (Telecom), Teva (Pharma), Gilead (Pharma), Hertz (Retail-Auto), Paratek (Pharma), Nuance (Tech) and for a number of them my candy bar prices are near their lowest price ranges in the last 52 weeks.

If Stocks Were Like My Playlist...

My playlist would go something like this:

a) Hold classic stocks for the long haul - Like a good wedding playlist (Kool and the Gang, Black Eyed Peas, Jay Z, Notorious BIG, Montell Jordan) these tracks will not disappoint as they are loved across generations.  Apple, Verizon, Manchester United, Coach are often the most used technologies, watched sports teams, and worn jewelry items in the world. They may fall out of love briefly...so buy them when they do and press play and enjoy the ride.

b) Keep Watch for Young fiery stocks - These names take the industry by storm and rise to the top very quickly. In the music world, they are often associated with one name: Drake, Kendrick, J Cole, etc.  In the stock world think Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Tesla, Google. The only problem is these stocks or albums are almost never on sale. If you find a dip, get in while you can.

c) Flip Through Old & New Songs - This is the most important category for me. I'll listen to anyone, especially if you have Lil in front of your name: Lil Wayne, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty.  Old and new artists like ASAP Rocky, Travis Scott, Joey Badass, Gucci Mane, Bruno Mars, The Weeknd.  These are the songs that when played someone absolutely loves, hates, or admits they've never heard of the artist. I try to find stocks with this profile. These songs must be listened to over and over again to determine do they still have it, are they hot, or ready to flop.  If they were stocks, would you bet $10K on the following:

• Lil Wayne  - will the Carter 5 come out, does he still have it??
• Bruno Mars - is he the next greatest thing since MJ?? #24karat
• Lil Yachty - he's been hated on by ever hip hop purist but was just in a Target commercial...is he about to break out or break down?
• Joey Badass - Can a lyricist make it big without big crossover hits?

Take this approach, follow the news and make educated decisions. For me, I would bet on all of these scenarios above. Lil Wayne's come back story would be worth a buy, Bruno bringing R and B back, Lil Yachty giving us fun rap (sorry rap purists), and Joey keeping conscious rap alive.

I have a number of big winners in the past few years making some educated calls:

Apple - bought when ppl said they couldn't make new products or sell phones in China
Alibaba - everything on the site is counterfeit and sales would not grow
Coach - all the purses are being sold in outlet stores and no one will pay full price
Whole Foods - Whole pay check has no value because everyone sells organic

The calls for early demise in these household names were great opportunities to get in. The hardest thing is to be the only person not selling when things don't go right. I'll list my new playlist here but feel free to share yours:

Verizon - losing every wireless carrier to TMobile and Sprint
Lululemon - somehow the stock I sold last year is BACK down to the levels I bought during their last crisis
Synchrony - not so great earnings and people are starting to default on credit cards again
Gilead Sciences - they have no drug pipeline and earnings will keep getting crushed