Newbie

Greetings folks,

This post is a long time coming. I have been a lurker for the past few months after I found about this board. I believe it was one of Tom Gardner’s post that led me to this awesome board. I have been a Stock Advisor member for the last decade or so and stumbled across the Motley Fool after I decided to take investing in my own hands after the 2008 crisis. I didn’t know anything about investing back then and thought trading was investing (!!!). Besides motley fool , i visit Seeking alpha for reading.

What I love about this board-

  1. Saul
  2. Saul (just deserves a 2nd mention :slight_smile: )
  3. No politics
  4. A collective effort to contribute, challenge, and learn from each other
  5. Awesome posts and perspectives (Dreamer Dad, Duma, Tam, others I that I can’t remember names)

What I have done after lurking on this board-

  1. Read dozens and dozens of annual and quarterly reports ( sure I have glanced at them before but reading transcripts and statements in bit more detail)

  2. Sold my losers or ones that I don’t believe will give me market beating returns (losers -UA, GPRO, CMG). I haven’t sold WPRT yet but at this point it is basically worth pennies…(should still probably sell)

  3. Changed my mind about and buy and hold forever (WPRT) to buy and evaluate + stay informed+ ready quarterly earnings and make decisions

  4. Bought OKTA,ANET,NVDA,JD,TTD,TND (all SA recs), AYX

  5. Finally understood that I need to stay invested and have started using my cash pile towards starting positions slowly

  6. Started listening to RB and Invest like the best podcasts

  7. Had the courage to write this post :slight_smile:

The reason I write the above is to let you know how much you guys have collectively taught me in the last few months and what a great service you guys do with your contributions.

My first stock was ATVI 8 years ago (was so nervous) and I have held on to it.
My other big winner is AMZN which I have added to a few times. AMZN is probably the only stock I have added where I bought a full position (I buy in thirds) and continue to hold.

I recently went back and read the last annual report where Jeff Bezos talks about “Day 1” and also mentions his 1997 shareholder letter. I would highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read it.

Biggest loser well – WPRT (yes I read Saul’s post………I am better for it)

Don’t know how much I will add to the discussions but will have questions from time to time.

Grateful for failures,
Foolonely

54 Likes

Hi foolonely, welcome to the board. glad you are here.
Saul

nice post!
I feel your pain on CMG.
At one point, I lost 55 pounds (227 to 172) discarding my beloved tortilla shell and eating burrito bowls for lunch every day for about 9 months. Can’t maintain that weight (it is my high school weight after all!) but the fact that it can be a staple of a paleo diet and/or just awesome-tasting carb-enriched burritos and quesadillas has made me a huge fan of Chipotle since the late 90s.

But I never invested in it. Then the food scare hit their stock and that big drop looked like an opening. TMF was recommending it too. THEN THEY INTRODUCED CHORIZO…OMG OMG OMG!!!

Chorizo becomes my favorite, I invest, and then they have other issues and I quickly exited realizing that no matter how awesome the food is, it only takes one stupid teenager that doesn’t wash their hands or 1 irresponsible person somewhere in the food chain, to give the stock a mammoth black eye. That was just too much risk, and has made me shy away from restaurant/food stocks as a result.

Then Chipotle discontinues Chorizo, and while it is still pretty good, I feel the quality has stepped down from “awesome” to “very tasty”. Bummer.

However - I am still with you on AYX, NVDA, and TTD. Hoping those stories turn out a whole lot better.

-Dreamer

4 Likes

Chipotle has too many production bottlenecks. My favorite food, but you can get stuck for a long time waiting for the slow poke customers, employees, or cashiers.

Other “fast food” restaurants get around this by having several inputs and outputs. Drive thru, 2-4 order lines.

John
The Man on the Street