Robbie Thomas
Investing Insights in a Dystopian World Q1 2026
A blog post about Investing & Dystopia, with the top image of a walking trail? Yes, my friends, we are going to do that.
First of all, I’ve said it many times that I’m a Libertarian. I did vote for Harris in 2024, a vote I somewhat regret. Don’t fret, my Liberal friends, I wouldn’t voted for Trump if I could have that vote back. Thought about voting for Trump in 2016 when Gary Johnson went nuts and had his Aleppo moment just shortly before the election, but I decided to give him my vote, not liking either Trump or Clinton. Of the two, my view on the issues was closer to Clinton’s. But also, I hated Clinton more than Trump. I voted for Jo Jorgensen in 2020.
But let’s get to investing! I just sold all my Intel stock, and it’s still being processed as I write this post. Intel has been on the negative side of my portfolio for quite a few years. I kept it just in case it reached the green. It was slowly getting there in the last quarter of 2025. Finally, it reached green just before the earnings announcement. I had an eerie feeling it wasn’t going to be good, so I sold it all by Thursday Morning while it was at $53. The profit I got was slim, but it was fine by me, seeing where it went after that. Could Intel be better down the road, perhaps? And I could have a Bill Duke moment due to this.
Now, where am I going to put this Intel sale? It’s going mainly to Barrick (B) and a Silver ETF (SLV). I also plan to use that money to invest in the following ETFs: JEPI and JEPQ. Both of these ETFs pay monthly. Besides my retirement portfolio, I have two portfolios, Stash and Vanguard. I’m putting money into my Vanguard Portfolio this year and looking to put $450 each month into my Vanguard account.
Here are the following ETFs and one stock I’m buying through Vanguard:
- VDIGX – Vanguard Dividend Growth Fund*
- VWELX – Vanguard Wellington Fund Investor Shares*
- DIV – Global X SuperDividend U.S. ETF
- IGLD – FT Vest Gold Strategy Target Income ETF
- PEY – Invesco High Yield Equity Dividend Achvrs ETF
- PFFD – The Global X U.S. Preferred ETF
- SBAR – The Simplify Barrier Income ETF
- SDIV – Global X SuperDividend ETF
- SRET – Global X SuperDividend REIT ETF
- AGD – abrdn Global Dynamic Dividend Fund
- YGLD – Simplify Gold Strategy PLUS Income ETF
- XSHD – Invesco S&P SmallCap High Div Low Vol ETF
- GLDM – SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust
- SPDV – AAM S&P 500 High Dividend Value ETF
(* – Mutual Fund that requires a $3000 start, GLDM doesn’t pay dividends)
I’m going to try to put money in my Vanguard account 9 months out of the twelve this year. I do allow myself three months without putting that in there due to emergencies that could happen. And believe me, I seen quite a few emergencies last year. Hospital stay, dental issue, and car repair. I’d probably die of shock if I didn’t go past 2026 without some personal emergency that cost me over $700. If you don’t see any more posts after 2026 or see me doing #WritersLift’s on Twitter/X, assume I died. The 9 out of 12 standard was the same thing last year; I was able to put money in my Stash account 9 out of 12. February 2026 is going to be an expensive month for me, and I may not put money in the Vanguard account that month; we’ll see.
The reason why I’m doing precious metals, and here comes the political talk, is because President Trump and most of the Republican Party are angering people around the world. He threatened military action against Greenland, but later reversed himself. My guess is that the people at Nato and the Davos Summit strongly recommended that his attacking Greenland would be a very bad idea. Of course, some or most of the Republican Party just kiss his ass big time. It seems the number of Republicans who do this is dwindling. But also, the Democratic Party doesn’t seem to do much to stop him. Take a look at Hakeem Jefferies and Chuck Schumer.
Due to Trump’s angering people around the world, I have noticed that Gold, Silver, and some of my International ETFs, such as VYMI, are going up. My largest investment, VCIT, a business bond ETF, is also going up due to some international exposure. Regardless of whether you hate Trump’s gut big time or just view that he is fucking up relations with other countries. And investors outside the United States will view us as bullshit and look to invest not using the US dollar. I don’t blame them.
With my investing approach, again, you may be an investor looking to do things differently than I am. I’m not telling you to do the same thing I do; this is what I’m doing. As my disclaimer says:
WARNING: Do not take this advice and put all your eggs in a single basket on the stock or fund 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 or comment with: “Hey fucker! 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.”
I’m not an advisor!
Now, I’m going to talk about the political tensions in our country. I feel bad for Renee Good and her family, and for the majority of people being dragged out of their homes in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Watching ICE do the awful things that they do is terrible. This “own the libs” shit has gone too far.
But also, I do agree that fraud has been committed, and I did watch that Nick Shirely video. He and that guy have a point, but also, despite some of those child care institutions he went to being busted or indicted for fraud, I could see why they wouldn’t want a guy with a camera walking in. I’m sure there were a few places he wanted to that were legit, and I can sympathise with a legit Child Care place saying hell no to the guy with the camera. I also laughed at this:
Again, I’m not a MAGA guy, but that doesn’t look very good. And it’s a disappointment to me because I voted for Harris/Walz. I really wanted to like Tim Walz, and I do have sympathy due to him having a special needs son. But, again, this fraud doesn’t look good on him. He isn’t seeking another term, and we could guess why.
However, I don’t think having ICE patrol the Twin Cities and cause chaos there is the answer. Are there Somali immigrants doing bullshit? There are a few. But I don’t think the two cities and their people have to suffer due to it. Reene Good shouldn’t have been killed, and why in the fuck was there an ICE officer in front of the car? In all the times I’ve watched cop cam videos, I’ve never seen a cop walk in front of a car being pulled over or when the people in the car are being surrounded for crimes they committed, such as causing a car chase. There are plenty of those out there for one’s viewing pleasure. I’ve never, to my memory, ever seen a cop in front of a car in those kinds of situations.
Trump’s cabinet is filled with people who are going to kiss his ass. So if he tells the public that what they saw was incorrect, his cabinet will say the same thing. Is it 100 percent dystopian? I wouldn’t say 100 percent, but Trump does have about 40 percent or less approving of his job performance, so I would say it’s somewhat dystopian. I see the other factor as his cabinet, and the 40 percent or less just kissing his ass.
I understand why people voted for Trump in 2024. I think it’s really about 30 percent more or less who are Trump fans voting for him, and the rest are independents. Plus, I saw both sides do this, but the Democratic Party did it more by ruthlessly insisting that if Trump wins, it’s the end of the world. Heh, they could’ve been right. Hell, a few of those votes were from Democrats who felt the party had bullshitted them. I understand why. I watch the PBS Newshour, and some of these Democrats are being pussies. I do like Mark Kelly, Cory Booker, and Bernie Sanders, despite some of my disagreements with them.
There’s not much else I can say. I’m getting tired after spending an hour typing this blog post. I’m guessing I’m going to lose a friend or two for this blog post. Again, I’m a Libertarian who doesn’t like Woke Culture. But I hear a lot of right-wing pundits bitch about Woke Culture. If the TV show you’re watching is full of Woke Culture, don’t fucking watch it. BLAAAHHH!! WOKE CULTURE!!! GRRR!! I HATE WOKE CULTURE! Don’t fucking watch it, don’t fucking listen to it. I’m certainly not a fan of Howard Stern going to Woke Culture, but you’ll never see me bitch about it on this blog or beyond. I skip his channel when flipping channels on my Sirius dial.
Peace, Love and Fractions!
Robbie T.
RIP Renee Good & Lawrey Edwards