Robbie Thomas
Q2 Investing / Finance Talk
Note: I’ve changed this to Investing/Finance, there will be some future posts about financial talk on this blog. Enjoy! Also, I don’t consider myself a financial expert. Don’t take my words as the final word.
Credit Card Virgin
Yes, at the age of 39, I finally got my first credit card. It is secured and I have a low credit limit. This card is from Citibank, or as myself and recent Covid-19 victim Bill Maher likes to call them, Shittybank. In my good ole’ ne’er-do-well days in 2002, a solicitor called me from CitiBank. I was screwing with this poor guy and asked, “Did you say Shittybank?” He said, “No sir, I did not say that word, it’s Citibank.” We went back in forth with me saying, “You said Shittybank” with him denying it and asking to speak to my mom. Poor guy, got this fucking loser (me) screwing with him while trying to make a buck.
So yes, I got myself a credit card. I’ve been a total debit card using dude and what recently influenced me to get going on this was this video below:
It was featured on the Money with Tom Leykis Facebook page. Plus, I put it on a post it note for me to get a credit card. Then one late Friday night at home, I saw that post-it note and said what the hell. To my surprise, I was able to get one due to my credit score saying: N/A. I have no credit. I activated it Saturday and used it for the first time when I visited a bar in Rochester. Will be providing updates on my Credit Card Virgin self down the road.
However, while finishing this article, I ran into this:
Stash Back Rewards and Upgrade
I haven’t received this card yet as of 16 May 2021 (happy birthday Ally and Hollywood Al). Stash Capital offers Stash-Back rewards as mentioned in this NerdWallet article (it’s in the middle). I was skeptical about this at first as it was mentioned within the Stash Capital universe. However, I find NerdWallet to be more trustworthy. Once I get the card, I’ll be moving about $350/month to that account and will pay my AT&T, T-Mobile and Netflix bills with that. And when I do my Walmart grocery pickups, I’ll be paying for those on that card. And I will get fractional shares of the said stocks. Again, I haven’t got the card yet so I cannot tell you how it’s working. Stay tuned!
In addition to that, I also upgrade my Stash account to Stash+ at $9/month. I’ve been averaging $33/month with dividends this year so far, so it’ll pay for itself. According to that NerdWallet article, the Stash+ pays twice as much in rewards. I also get a market insights report every last Friday of the month.
Investing into the Summer
Last week (10 May – 14 May 2021), Big Tech took a big shit and later picked up some of the losses. I aim to keep my portfolio at 30% in Tech, I get most of my dividends from that category. However, I have some thoughts of knocking that down to 25-27% and adding the remainder to Consumer Goods. The CDC restrictions are loosening more, a lot faster than I originally thought. I had said earlier this year that we won’t be seeing some big light at the end of the tunnel until at least late summer. Looks like I’m wrong, and I’m glad I’m wrong.
One of the Vanguard Mutual Funds I’m looking to get my foot in the door with is VDIGX, Vanguard Dividend Growth Fund. Tom Leykis has been talking about this one when he does his money episodes on his podcast. I also like it due to it being $36.75 as of this blog post. I also like that the fund is 26% Consumer Goods and Services. Healthcare is also a big one with this fund. The fund pays dividends on March, June and December. Nothing on September tho, bummer!
One of my long term investments I have started with is LIT. This is an ETF that supports the Lithium Batteries. We are trying to get more electric cars out there and I want a piece of that action. I bought some of this ETF just after it went down from $73 to $58. LIT was at $73 on 17 Feb 2021, and went down to $58 on 10 March 2021 when I bought it. That big decline got me hooked for me to buy it. My guess is this ETF is not going to jump high within the next two years. This is something I’m looking to keep for over 10 years.
Inflation…
With inflation rating at 4.2, despite life returning to normal sooner than expected, this will cause some troubles down the road. I don’t think the inflation rating will go back down to a normal level of 2 percent or less soon. I’m thinking inflation staying at 4 percent on and off throughout the year will be around. Jeffery Gundlach did say there are reasons to be worried about inflation, I have to agree.
Some people are getting paid more to sit at home than going to work. Do you want to stay home and get paid more, opposed to going to work at McDonalds and dealing with shitty customers and Karens? Since we are printing money like a mofo here without the gold to back it up, that is one good reason for me to be concerned about inflation.
Am I an inflation expert? I wouldn’t say so. I learned a lot about inflation just recently when I saw some articles about this. And I read about how they calculate this and all of the formulas they use. Me saying that inflation will be a problem down the road is my guess and if Jeffery Gundlach says to be worried about it, I’d follow along. In the summer months of 2008, the inflation rate stayed past 5% on those three months. Could we see that this year? I wouldn’t be terribly surprised.
Plus, we are getting these vaccines for free. Who’s paying for those in the end? Us. I can see higher taxes down the road. Be prepared!
My stupid buys
Two buys I made before doing my research are Intel (INTL) and Aurora Cannabis (ACB). I bought Intel due to me wanting some footing in the microchips door. Later, I discovered they aren’t doing so grand like they used to. Yes, they are building two new fab buildings to combat against the microchip problem. That will take a little while for us to take care of that shortage, so I’m not going to crazy for it. However, if Intel’s stock goes under $50, I’m buying.
One thing scares me is that the previous CEO Bob Swan owns nearly 500,000 shares of stock in Intel. If he decides to unload that stock, that could be a problem. But with the dividends he gets, according to my calculations, he would get about $166,000 per 3 months. I can’t read the mind of this CEO but would guess he wants to keep that stock. But who knows… If he unloads it, I’ll probably be kicking my own ass.
ACB? Well, I put $230 in there, and now the stock is worth $83. For me:
Also, my MJ ETF is now valued at $666.66. Seriously! The devil is on his way:
WARNING: Do not take this advice and put all your eggs in the basket on a single stock or fund that I mentioned. When it comes to investing, I’m Single-A ball at best (short season A-ball). Please do your research and due diligence. I don’t want an e-mail with: “Hey bastard! I put all my money in a stock you mentioned in a blog, and the CEO got caught naked with a 7-year-old boy in Thailand.”