Maybe we all have accounts where we buy and hold? Maybe all this buying and selling/daytrading is just for fun? I know that's what it is for me. We already max out our 401k and IRA. Now I'm using excess savings account money for daytrading, just for the purpose of beating the absolutely pitiful interest rate we are getting.

Is Fastly done? It's been a rough couple days. Especially today.

What's the current thought on FSLY? Buy here or wait a little longer?

5th time its peaked in 6 months. Im a chart guy.
No expert or Ice. Im holding for it to go lower.
Thank God I played ZM right the 3 times i bought and sold. It dips below 300 i might go in again.
The whole world opened up didn't you here?

I don’t think so. If you don’t own any and like it I wouldn’t go all in but I would start a position at current pricing. I am holding FSLY long term to see where it goes.

I own a group of high growth stocks which got hit today FLSY TDOC FVRR TTD SE ROKU U etc and will keep long term. My thesis stays the same on them as good long term growth stocks. A day like today I used to fear but now I feel it’s healthy actually with folks taking profits, those who have leveraged long positions tapping out, tight stops getting triggered and timid new buyers thinking 3-4% down in a day is really bad, so they sell. Prices consolidate and new buyers come in with better entry points or folks add to positions. Sure you can trade them, but I am holding. All ok in my book.

And there are a ton of new buyers getting in lately! Some will stick around and others will sell and run and won’t come back for a while. If you are down 5% and run you have no business buying stocks in general. If you are down 20% and sell off and run you were likely in something that no one had any business being in.

I do a “growth with cash some cash, 15% now, portfolio”. So with my cash on the side I didn’t “back up the truck” on these type of stocks today but did add a little more FVRR HUBS SHOP and ETSY when they were bottoming out. I also started a brand new position in NET. May not have bought the bottom but that’s ok because I didn’t back up the truck and holding long term. All will be held hopefully long term to see how they do.

I also own old guard stocks like AMZN AAPL FB QQQ ETF and they did well today. They have been quiet for months. This is healthy also seeing money go from perhaps “the next” fangs to the OG fangs that have had little or no upside in months. It’s can be bad for folks if they give up on the old guard if they are slow and put all their money in the hot growth tech stocks or SPACs or bitcoin EV weed or whatever just because they are going up and then run to buy back into Fangs at higher pricing if they are getting hit on their higher flyers. I just own both an don’t buy stocks I want to own long term. Folks adding some to the SaP today is healthy also. But the fangs helped the SaP go up today with their huge positions in the index. All the other high flyers that didn’t get hit today are not special and Most will get hit soon and a lot harder than FSLY. IMHO.

All I saw is natural healthy action today. Not panic or fear. Days like these will come with growth stocks and I feel especially over the next month or so with holiday virus spikes, vaccine news and new weaker investors getting in. I am learning to manage days like today mentally and portfolio wise and thinking long term. And no the I don’t feel the SaP index, value stocks are safe from dips and don’t think they will outperform any of the stocks above short mid or long term, so I don’t own them. I would rather have cash.

Just wanted to share way of doing things and I have had a phenomenal year this year, but I fully know 2020 will not continue and have set expectations a lot lower into 2021. There are many ways to invest for success. I am still learning though and can adjust also. As we all know, things change. But 2021 I feel should be pretty good, not post March 2020 awesome, but pretty good.

Thoughts on QRVO?

Like that one

Growth got hammered today. Barbell approach helped offset that rotation trade a bit. BIG down day for me.

Will it be a 2 day rotation like the many past events and then back to growth? I think so

In any event, days like to today are healthy for our stocks. Year end profit taking and window dressing it appears

SE, TTD, JMIA, FSLY, FVRR entered the buy zone again. Let’s see how it plays out

Remember when we were taking about backing up the truck with Apple/Secretariat at $110 not too long ago?

These are the kind of setups to be ready for

Fwiw, Tom Gardner “10 stocks for 2021”. Motley fool. Came out today

PINS
MELI
OKTA
LMND
NET
ZM
SHOP
FLTG
APPN
FVRR

Is that given in the super premium MF pro package that is sold out to new subscribers? Always wonder about what you get with that?

What is FLTG?

And again thanks for sharing. Bad day but an outstanding year for me and learned a lot here on the pinball website. Where else??

I received the report and I just have the cheap basic Motley Fool

Just a Reminder to run a gain/loss report and make any needed 2020 adjustments. Just 3 days left to take some losses (if any) to cover some gains for instance.

So I'm fairly new to all of this. Is that to avoid tax on gains by nulling them out with some losses?

Yes, but you have to be careful with matching short term & long term.

Damn dude, what do you do for living? Looking for any interns?

You have to claim all short term gains as regular ordinary income (unless you are playing on an IRA or 401k account)... that means full tax on your day trades and other short term (less than 1 year) trades. But your account may have stocks that tanked and for whatever reason you have felt like holding on to them. Maybe time to think different about those dogs. Many folks benefit in selling those AT A LOSS, and using that loss to directly 1-to-1 remove some of that standard ordinary income. So if you made $50K in profits on short term trades in 2020, you'll have a significant tax burden of $15K or so, but if your account has dog stocks that have LOST $20K in value, you can sell those (if they are dogs anyway) and reduce your reported income by that same $20K... essentially reducing the $50K of reportable ordinary income to $30K (which makes a big difference in what you have to pay come April 15th... saving maybe $6K of real out of pocket money or so)

But this end-year play works best when you own a few dogs that you 'just hope someday' will come back. If you have any of these dogs, just shoot them by Thursday

speaking of 401ks.. both my wife and i have that maxed out every year. We are over Roth income limits. As i want to retire at 55 or earlier (currently 43) starting to build a pile of money outside of vehicles that have age limits attached. Is the only tax advantaged strategy left simply holding on to everything for at least 12 months? Started seeing "backdoor roth" and the 5 year rule in googling.. is that something to chase down?

I have worked my A$$ off for 20 years, working every hour of overtime available and being smart with my money. I'm not rich, but we are comfortable because of the choices I have made.

I think saving 20% to 30% of a paycheck is entirely reasonable.

To max 401 and IRA on the basis of saving 30% requires an 85k income. Most engineers can earn this after a few years of work, many other fields as well...but I'm most familiar with engineering.

It does not require a huge salary. It does require living below your means.

It's funny, I remember the week I joined my first 'real' job back around 1980 and in the welcome packet they had a 401K brochure which was a white glossy 1-page flyer on building your 'nest egg' with a picture of a bird's nest and a green egg. I was 18 and thought that kind of thinking was way down the road for me... I threw it out. But then for whatever reason, they had a retirement faire in the lobby a few months later and after listening to the HR folks, I felt compelled to sign up. Not sure why. I signed up for the full amount allowed, and have kept that game plan ever since. Always contributing the max my salary allowed in the early days, or the max the govmnt allowed in later years. And like many folks on this thread, now have an IRA account with enough 'monopoly money' to really try some trading strategies that make real money. I know this thread may seem like a game to new readers, but there is something so exciting and rewarding about finding that perfect risk comfort zone to trade with money that funds each of our futures....

I would strongly encourage you to consider dumping money into an HSA and investing it a tad conservatively if you're not already. Don't use it for today's medical expenses, use it post retirement.

Like you, we both max our 401ks and IRAs and are well over the Roth limit. The HSA is another fine tax shelter.

I've also learned it's a good idea to use my taxable investment accounts to hold those funds that don't pay out dividends, instead... I've set my portfolio mix so those fund reside in sheltered accounts.

Thanks! I really appreciate the info!

I definitely fall into the bucket of people that did 401k thinking it was building out my retirement appropriately. This year I have been trying to learn better ways to diversify that out. So far I've put a chunk with Vanguard and just a small amount into a TD Ameritrade account to learn more about the stock market.

Thanks to everyone providing advice or opinions in here, I'm loving reading them and learning from them.

It seems like a lot of folks in this thread are newer to investing. My number one piece of advice is to get at a minimum, an accountant and based upon your level of investment, a financial advisor of some sort. Both of these people are worth their weight in gold.

Accountants can make your life easier at tax time and be able to help you with basic strategies.

Financial advisors, besides stock picks and the like, can open you up to a variety of opportunities and more complex strategies. Based upon your level of relationship, they can get you into private investments, offer you financial terms that regular clients are not entitled to, etc. I'm 43, but have been with my guy now for 20 years now. The longevity of my relationship with him and the level of relationship that I have has gotten me preferential treatment in a variety of areas (mortgage rates, HELOCS, loan terms, private investment opportunities, IPO's, college savings, insurance, etc). Sure, you pay for this expertise, but when managed correctly, the value derived far outstrips what it has cost. When you get to a certain level of investment income or investment sophistication, it pays to bring in experts.

If you have a TD account, definitly download the Thinkorswim app for trading. It is unbelievably good. Tons of tutorial videos on using ToS out there too.

Added a little more square today on the pullback.

I'm looking to do some of my first long term investing outside of tax advantaged accounts (read buy and hold at least a year). Starting off, I am looking at an equal mix of ARKK, ARKG, and ICLN. Does that raise any red flags to anyone?

that is good advice.. too bad i have done the opposite so far.. I was tired of savings accounts that suck so i started putting savings (outside of emergency fund) into QYLD which is mostly flat but pays 10% dividends, and pays out monthly.. watching the monthly dollars roll in feels good but.. yeah.. tax man coming. thanks for the other thoughts as well.. haven't maxed out IRA (I didn't/don't want any more money behind an age of access penalty / on target trajectory without it).. but HSA may be interesting

Post #6258 includes a list of Motley's ten buy and hold stocks. Buy a even chunk of each one of them and I bet you'll be smiling in a year, 3 , 5, etc

Yes an HSA is a medical Roth on steroids. Good you mentioned it. We Max ours out tax free and don’t use it and keep it invested. We can us our HSA if we have a medical emergency and get the expenses paid with no taxes on HSA gains. Since we don’t use it grows tax free and we save our medical receipts each year and if we wish we can withdraw HSA money for the full amount of the previous bills when ever we want. If one does retire early they can use the HSA to help pay the high insurance costs until Medicare. One can also keep longer term and use an HSA for long term care since LTC insurance isn’t worth with cost now compared to years ago. If it’s down to the end and looks like LTC won’t be necessary just write yourself a check for your Past bills. HSA is underestimated and a lot more then a way pay for current prescriptions and deductibles. Roth on steroids

Believe all above is correct but once again verify with an accountant or advisor

The High deductible plan requirement is what has historically killed HSAs for me. Has this requirement changed recently?

Because let me tell ya, $450-$500 for 3 months of insulin vs $9-$10 destroys the value proposition if I am still forced to go high deductible.

As you say, it requires a High Deductible health plan. For my family, this makes sense. It has been a huge boon for us over the last decade.

Fwiw, and relax....

FLGT

I agree to a point of course!

As a CPA I can tell you they don’t know shit about financial planning and don’t get paid to give advice on Roth conversions etc

They are good at counting your taxes, period

As for the financial advisor, they can’t give tax advice and say go talk to your CPA!!!

And the lawyer for estate planning is out in left field. He does the Wills and trust, most likely wrong, and definitely not funded properly because he doesn’t understand the taxes nor the financial side!

Lol. As a CPA, estate planning lawyer and financial advisor this is how I’ve been so successful in bringing all of these issues together.

Teamworkfinancial.com

My best advice is to go to Vanguard for the tax and financial planning.

Full disclosure, my daughter is a 26 yr old CFP that works there and I’d suggest getting into the “advisory program”

Yes she will come back one day from Scottsdale to San Antonio

Understand the “power of compounding” and what it means. Low fees. And you are good!

I have offices in New Braunfels, Houston and the Valley and will open up in Austin once Covid allows

Bottom line, get a “fiduciary” you think you can trust to help

The financial world is a sales business. Beware. Stick to the Vanguards of the world. Heed my advice and prosper

I respectfully disagree with this. Learn the tax code for yourself. It ain't that hard.

Exactly. As a CPA myself, very little of the exam is on tax code, most of the exam is on how to report EPS and other bullshit.

The code is easy to understand, at least the basics, unless you have a business.

The internet is a wealth of information.

Tax code isn't a problem....where you people find the time to research all these companies is what I wonder. I start reading and my eyes glaze over and mind blanks out and I don't have a clue what i just researched.

Do you have a preferred range of net worth for your clients? I have found different advisors typically 'specialize' in certain ranges.

To each their own. In my particular case, I have need of accountants and advisors.

Happy Healthy New Years to you guys, thanks for the advice and entertainment in the thread this year!

PSTH is level... Skepticism on this stock I think. If a good announcement, this stock will skyrocket.

To those of you that say "I'm never ever selling stock XYZ": Do you just want it to go to your estate? Don't you want to enjoy the fruits of your labors and risks you took? A retirement mansion? Very early retirement? Toys?

Just curious as we all know that every investment will eventually go bad. Even Amazon, Wal-Mart, Apple and Tesla will one day become almost or fully worthless.

I believe that Motley Fool allows anyone to participate in their CAPS website, which has thousands of users picking stocks and tracking results. Joining CAPS then allows you to rank the best picks, the most picks, the best returns, Hottest 5 star, hottest 1 star, the worst returns, etc. Worth a look if you haven't seen something like this. For instance today's stocks on a few of these lists are NGG, E, EDIT, CRIS, CLLS and HTBS

Not a commercial for MF, but just letting folks know if they are looking for CROWD-SOURCED stock picks, Fool's CAPS site may be worth giving a try

http://CAPS.FOOL.COM

My issue with PSTH is that Ackman is a complete tool. Remember his years long crusade against Herbalife that he lost over a billion dollars on? Then his stunt back in the spring when he was on CNBC crying, trying to scare investors into selling their investments, while simultaneously taking opposite positions.

I’m personally in never sell mode, I’m trying to invest wisely to build a better future for my family. I’m married 36 yr old with a 7 month old and an almost 4 year old. If something goes incredibly wrong with a stock I’m in I’ll of course sell. If I end up in a jam or medical emergency, job loss you name it I’d be willing to dip into my investments. Once I’m retired and hopefully financially very comfortable my thoughts could change!!!

I often state that I don't sell, I only buy...index funds not stocks.

We invest to retire early. At 47, our portfolio is currently 30X our expenses. I anticipate we can retire in <5 years if we wish. That brings a tremendous amount of freedom and freedom from worry. We could retire now if we wanted to curb our spending, but I'd rather not do that.

We use salary to pay for things we want, not liquidated portfolio holdings. We live below our means to accommodate that. So no, I don't sell investments to pay for stuff. We live off salary.

This is why I don't have a collection of pins in my gameroom even though I could. Because not losing sleep over stuff like Covid layoffs is pretty nice.

That's the fruit of our labor... security and independence.

I should backtrack a bit and say if you have rental property or a bunch of K1s, or other complex ins and outs, yes then it has value to talk to someone who deals with taxes daily. Most of the people that I did taxes for, could have done it themselves, but there is an inherent "willful ignorance" to how taxes work that most of the public has. It's amazing to me how people willfully keep their eyes shut to how it really works. I can't tell you how many times I have had people tell me that the government actually gives them money back (from their refund).

No worries at all. And I fully agree about understanding the tax code and basic financial literacy all the time. Sadly, we do a horrible job in this country in preparing people for the real world and lack of financial literacy is one of my pet peeves.

Just like you were saying about people thinking that they are getting free money back as part of their refund, I wonder how many folks don't realize that that the stimulus checks are not free money as well?

I know I am in the minority, but I rather owe on taxes as opposed to getting a refund. No sense in giving the government an interest free loan.

Smart man to just stay invested as you have 25 -30 years left before you cash in your chips and get off the roller coaster ride of the stock market . If you can get your funds to double every 7 years or so you with have a nice sum as the power of compounding gets fun toward the end of the ride . My biggest regret is mine was not in a roth so when i cash out i will be a poster child for the IRS .