A rookie's portfolio update

Hello All-

This is my first portfolio update and only the second time I’ve contributed to this board. I have read everything on here for the last couple of months and frankly have felt like I could not really contribute much to the discussions with my investing experience. I hope its ok that I contribute a portfolio update because I am just thoroughly excited about the future of my investing. For any new board members (or board lurkers like me) wondering if they should take a leap into Saul’s world, I can say it has certainly changed my investing path for the better.

I have spent 16 years of working life investing exclusively in mutual funds and ETFs. For the most part I tried to diversify by selecting various vanguard index funds. Thanks to a very good employer 2 for 1 match on contributions, I was pleased with the results so long as there was a profession to keep my attention (I’m a government attorney).

I’m one of the people that started paying closer attention to the retirement account while working from home during idle hours. I sold nothing. I took the ride all the way down to the bottom in February/ March. I talked myself several times out of exiting the market. I lurked around these boards and finally restarted my paid TMF subscription mid-June. I spent about three weeks tinkering with the account based on TMF recommendations and what I learned here from Saul and all the others who so meaningfully contribute to this board. Thankfully all my tinkering was in a 401(a). I would say I sputtered around a lot in June trying to find the right portfolio for me. It would be embarrassing to tell you the number of transactions I had in that account in June.

Anyway, July was different. About 85% of my portfolio was unchanged from the beginning of the month. In the end I’ve settled on what I think are some great companies going forward. I would be lying if I said my analysis alone has given me this confidence. A lot of my confidence rests on the shoulders of people around here and your experienced and thoughtful posts. I am daily trying to understand what this board teaches but sometimes feel like a kid in college trying to audit a class in chemical engineering. I’m feeling better every day about things though.

Here are my results YTD (hopefully it will prove to be a tale of to halves):


Jan    0.35%
Feb   -6.69%
Mar  -19.26%
Apr   -9.49%
May   -4.71%
================
June   2.37%
**July  18.51%** 

July 2020 is the best month I’ve had in 16 years of investing. I cannot say how thankful I am for the knowledge I’ve gained from this board. I am confident in the long term future of this account for me and my family. I just regret I didn’t get bored and start trying to figure all this out a month or two earlier!

Portfolio composition at this point:


ZM    11.0%
CRWD  10.7%
DDOG  10.5%
LVGO   9.4%
FSLY   9.1%
NVDA   8.9%
SHOP   8.8%
AYX    8.3%
OKTA   8.2%
SQ     7.7%
MELI   3.3% (opened position in last 2 weeks)
ADBE   2.3%
AMZN   1.7% (opened position in last 2 weeks)

I don’t have any insights that haven’t been covered by other contributors. I don’t intend to post monthly updates until I have more to say. Mostly right not I just want to yell from the rooftop how excited I am about the future. Thank you again to everyone who makes this such a valuable learning source. I look forward to contributing more substantively to this board in the future.

-R

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Hi all:

This is my first post on this board. My story is almost identical to ADAKing. I have invested in real estate for 20+ years but took the COVID stay at home order to throw myself into learning stock investing. I have read voraciously, subscribed to MF Stock Advisor and jumped in with my first purchase April 5. While I was learning, and feeling like I was drinking from a firehose, my account went up 6% and then back down to 0.5% above where I started when I ran across this board on Friday July 3. I read every word of the Knowledgebase multiple times, three years worth of Saul’s portfolio’s summaries and basically everything everyone posted since before the summer dip in SaaS stocks in 2019 during that July 3rd weekend. I don’t have a lot of insight right now to contribute so I’m not going to clutter up the board but am so grateful for all the contributions. I did my first monthly portfolio review today for my own benefit with no intent of posting it.

From July 6 to the end of July, I am up 18.5% after basically screwing around and being flat for three months!!! So for those other newcomers like me and ADAKing, this stuff works. Now I will go back in the shadows and continue to learn. You’ll hear from me next when I have something real to contribute. But again, many thanks to all!

JimmyUtah

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