I see many beginners posting that they’re new to investing and don’t know where to start. 🤔 As someone who was in a similar situation just a few months ago and learned, here are the 4 ETF types (& ETFs) that are popular among long term investors 😃 : 1) S&P 500: US: $VOO / $SPY / $SPLG Canadian: $VFV / $ZSP / $TPU 2) GROWTH / TECH: US: $QQQ / $VUG / $VGT / $SCHG Canadian: $QQC / $HXQ / $TEC / $ZUQ 3) DIVIDENDS: US: $SCHD / $VYM / $DGRO Canadian: $VDY / $XEI 4) ALL IN ONE / BASKET / Global Exposure: US: $VT / $AVGE Canadian: $ZEQT / $XEQT / $TGRO / $VEQT / $ZGQ I noticed many people following this type of a basic / uncomplicated portfolio and are doing really well for themselves 🔥 For % allocation, you can divide evenly among the ETF categories or allocate a higher % based on your preferences. Just DCA regularly and you should be good. 😎 Some people even just put it all into an all in one etf like $XEQT. This is also a good approach - it is much simpler and it works. Ultimately, it comes to whatever you prefer 🙂 Oh and yea, there are overlaps, but I don’t think there is anything wrong in that though - it would just count as doubling down on good things. 💯 I’m sharing with you all what helped me, but don’t forget to do your own research too! 🙏🏼 read more
On monday $NBIS broke out of the downtrend where it met some resistance at $230 (as I had expected in my previous recap). The stock got hit with some bearish news with Michael Burry shorting the stock, the Vineland city meeting being delayed and overall market uncertainty. However this does not change the original thesis about the company so these dips are just an opportunity to load up more. Today’s candle tested the 120 daily EMA at the lows and bounced sharply which is a good sign. It also closed above the trendline so what appeared to be a breakout invalidation did not decisively happen. In addition, it looks like an inverse head and shoulders pattern is emerging which is a bullish signal for the stock, but the price could also just consolidate in between the $143 and $200 levels until the next leg up. Remember this is a very volatile stock so these moves should not make shareholders panic. Next week will be big for $NBIS given earnings and Vineland site announcement. They could also announce any new deals which they have historically done around these times as well.
Wealthsimple has a feature called “Portfolio Pulse”whereby you can be that proverbial “fly on the wall” and look into the private portfolios published anonymously. I found this to be a very interesting exercise. I reviewed the top 100 portfolios but examined in detail the top 10. #1 is $49,148,421.83 #2 thru 10 range between $15,147,052.02 to $8,767,708.57 As more investors elect to publish their portfolios the more we will get to see, but after looking at the top 100, there is a repeatable common portfolio structure to all of them and I developed a quick method to examining them into categories. This method you can actually use to examine Blossom portfolios. This is regardless of account type like 401K, RRSP etc. and more about being able to understand the portfolio as a “whole” and how it is “constructed”. So let’s start. Core → Satellites → Concentration (Risk Character). 1) Core = the “engine” Ask: What’s the #1 holding (or top 2–3 combined)? This tells you what the portfolio is really about and the investor. Common cores: - Broad index core (US/global equity ETFs) - Factor core (quality / low-vol / dividend-tilt style ETFs) - Theme core (tech/semis/innovation basket) - Single-name core (one stock dominates) If you can identify the core in less than 10 seconds, you’re already ahead in portfolio diagnosis. --- 2) Satellites = what it’s “tuning” Satellites are the positions that sit next to the core and change the risk/return personality. Typical satellite buckets: - Growth / Theme tilts (tech, semis, AI, platforms) - Income / defensive tilts (dividend ETFs, more defensive-style exposures) - Real assets / REIT sleeve - Currency/cash proxy (large USD or CAD allocation acting like “liquidity bias”) - Additional factor overlays (value, momentum, small-cap, etc.) Key intuition: Satellites usually explain the “why,” while the core explains the “what.” --- 3) Concentration = the “how risky is this?” reality check Don’t overthink it—just eyeball concentration: - Diversified: no single position dominates; many meaningful holdings - Moderately concentrated: top holdings matter, but it’s not “one bet” - Highly concentrated: one name (or one theme) is doing most of the work This matters because two portfolios can both be “growth,” but one is *one big bet* and the other is *a diversified growth tilt.* --- The 6 portfolio types this creates (simple labels) Once you’ve identified Core + Satellites + Concentration, you can usually label the portfolio quickly: 1) Index + Tilt - Broad equity core + a few purposeful overlays. 2) ETF Ladder / Multi-Core - Multiple big ETFs spanning regions/styles (often US + Canada + international + value/RE). 3) Theme Basket - A theme is the core and dominates the holding list. 4) Single-Name Conviction - One stock is the core; the rest are supporting actors. 5) Income / Defensive Overlay - Dividend/income/defensive exposures are prominent, even if equity-heavy. 6) Core All-Equity (near-passive) - Mostly one or two broad all-equity ETFs, with minimal satellites. --- A quick 30-second “portfolio read” checklist When you open holdings: 1. Circle the core: What’s #1 (and #2/#3 if close)? 2. Label satellites: Are the other big lines income/defensive, theme, real assets, or currency? 3. Check concentration: Is it diversified, moderate, or dominated by one bet? If you do this consistently, you will start to be able to see the patterns, the portfolios will stop looking like a bunch of tickers, and you start to see them by their architecture, structure, core, shell, diversification, allocation, and risk and then you will see by the daily and annual returns how these portfolios performed against the macroeconomic and market conditions and WHY. Only then can you call yourself an investor, when you can examine a portfolio and determine its structure, risk and the alignment of its return against the current economic and market backdrop.read more
Today the S&P closed at a record high. The Nasdaq is about 2% from record high The DOW is about 1.5% from record high The Russell is less than 1% from record high If your portfolio isn't at, or near, a record high, it may be time to re-evaluate your investing strategy and make some changes. $SPY$QQQ$IWM$DIAread more
I've gotten many messages over the past few months from people asking to look at their porfolio. Usually when I see a portfolio I see many individual stocks making up a large % of a porflio, my first response is always to buy low cost index funds. I dont want to come off harsh but I feel the definition of investor arrogance is believing you're smarter than the market. Believing you can consistently pick winning stocks while outperforming millions of other investors including professionals with teams of analysts and access to far more information than you. The data says otherwise. • Around 80–90% of actively managed U.S. equity funds underperform the S&P 500 over a 15-year period. • These funds are run by professionals with teams of analysts, company access, and institutional research, yet most still fail to outperform a simple index fund. One thing you'll notice on social media: people love posting their biggest stock winners. Far fewer people post the stocks they lost 50%, 80%, or even 100% on. There's a reason why mutual funds and actively managed funds have historically underperformed against index funds..because even well paid fund managers with their teams cant beat the market overtime. For the record, I still own some individual stocks. My portfolio is roughly 93% ETFs and 7% individual stocks. I enjoy researching companies, but I also recognize the odds are stacked against consistently beating the market. That's why the foundation of my portfolio is broad-market ETFs not stock picks.read more
Today, Starbucks is one of the world’s most recognizable brands. But in 2008, investors weren’t talking about its global expansion. They were asking a different question: “Has Starbucks expanded too fast?” Success had become the problem For years, Starbucks opened new stores at an incredible pace. It seemed like there was a Starbucks on every corner. Revenue kept growing, but something was changing. Customers no longer saw Starbucks as a special experience. It was becoming just another coffee shop. At the same time, the global financial crisis reduced consumer spending, and traffic slowed. The stock fell by more than 70% from its 2006 high to its 2008 low. Many believed Starbucks’ growth story was over. Howard Schultz returned Howard Schultz, who had helped build Starbucks into a global brand, returned as CEO in 2008. Many people expected him to announce hundreds of new stores. Instead, he did something unexpected. He slowed down. Starbucks closed underperforming locations, reduced costs and focused on improving the customer experience instead of opening as many stores as possible. One symbolic moment captured this change. In 2008, Starbucks temporarily closed thousands of U.S. stores for several hours to retrain baristas on how to make espresso properly. It wasn’t about selling more coffee that day. It was about rebuilding the quality of the brand. (starbucks.com) The comeback wasn’t just coffee Starbucks invested in areas that customers noticed every day. Better stores. Better coffee. Better digital experiences. The company expanded its loyalty program and mobile ordering, making it easier for customers to order, pay and collect rewards. It also continued expanding internationally, particularly in China, while remaining disciplined about where it opened new stores. Growth returned, but this time it was built on a stronger foundation. The market changed its mind : Over the following decade, Starbucks increased revenue, expanded internationally and generated growing cash flow. The stock eventually recovered far beyond its 2006 peak. Investors stopped seeing Starbucks as a company that had overexpanded. They started seeing it as one of the world’s strongest consumer brands. What really created the comeback? Starbucks didn’t invent a revolutionary new product. It simply went back to what made people love the brand in the first place. Sometimes a company doesn’t need to grow faster. Sometimes it needs to become better. The investor lesson : One of the biggest mistakes companies make is believing that more growth automatically creates more value. Starbucks showed that slowing down, fixing operational problems and strengthening the customer experience can create a stronger business than expanding at any cost. As investors, it’s easy to focus on how many new stores, products or customers a company adds. Sometimes the more important question is: Is the business becoming better, or is it simply becoming bigger? The best companies know the difference.read more
if you hold $MSTE then watch my interview Phong Le, CEO of $MSTR - he answers every possible question you could have, watch here: https://youtu.be/ks2i176-se8
🔥 On Saturday over 2,000 Blossomers came out from all across Canada for an incredible day of learning and connection! I was shocked to see close to 1/3 of folks travelled from outside of Toronto to join us, huge thanks to everyone who made the trip! ⚡️ The energy during the day was absolutely buzzing and it was so awesome to meet so many members of the Blossom community! Special shout out to Blossom's Creator of the Year @jacobb and Blossom's Rising Star @nettspend who won our community-nominated Blossom awards 👏 🌱 Blossom has grown from an idea, to an app, to a movement and BlossomCon is the biggest testament to that. To see 2,000 folks from all different walks of life take time out of their weekend to connect, learn, and build financial literacy together is exactly what Blossom is all about and I am so fired up to keep building for this amazing community 💕 😍 Can't wait for BlossomCon Vancouver and New York!!! (https://www.blossomsocial.com/blossomcon2026) 👏 Special shout out to the Harvest ETFs team for being our Headline sponsor for the 3rd year in a row and to all our amazing sponsors for making this event possible 🙏
One of the best parts about the Blossom community is how open everyone is sharing knowledge and experiences. To make things easier for anyone just starting their investing journey, here’s a simple glossary to help understand and simplify various terms. Common Terms: Dividend: A share of a company’s profits paid to shareholders, usually quarterly. Ex-Dividend Date: The cutoff date by which you must own a stock to receive its next dividend. ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund): A fund that holds multiple stocks or bonds, traded like a single stock. Covered Call ETF: An ETF that owns stocks and sells call options to generate extra income (higher yield, limited / capped upside). Earnings Report: A company’s quarterly financial performance summary. EPS (Earnings Per Share): A company’s profit divided by its number of shares. Market Cap: A company’s total value (share price × number of shares). ACB: The total amount you’ve paid for an investment, including the purchase price plus any fees or commissions. Book Value: The value of a company according to its financial statements (assets minus liabilities). Yield: Annual dividend as a percentage of the stock/ETF price. Liquidity: How easily an asset can be bought or sold without impacting its price. Volatility: The degree of price fluctuations in a stock or market. Index: A benchmark of stocks (e.g., S&P 500, Nasdaq, TSX). Bull Market: A period of rising stock prices and optimism. Bear Market: A period of declining stock prices and pessimism. False Breakout: When a stock’s price moves above (or below) a key level, making it look like a new trend is starting, but then quickly reverses back. P/E Ratio: Price-to-earnings ratio (stock price ÷ EPS), used to assess valuation. Blue Chip: Well-established, financially strong companies with a track record of stability. Diversification: Spreading investments across assets to reduce risk. Broker: A platform or firm that facilitates buying and selling investments. Limit Order: An order to buy/sell a stock at a specific price or better. Market Order: An order to buy/sell a stock immediately at the current market price. Bid/Ask Spread: The difference between the highest price buyers offer and the lowest price sellers accept. Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA): Investing a fixed amount regularly to reduce the impact of market swings. Capital Gain/Loss: Profit or loss from selling an investment for more/less than its purchase price. IPO: When a company first sells shares to the public. Index Fund: A fund designed to mirror the performance of a market index. Short Selling: Selling borrowed shares, hoping to buy them back cheaper. Margin: Borrowing money from a broker to buy investments, which amplifies gains and losses. Margin Requirement: The minimum amount of your own money (equity) you must maintain in a margin account to open or keep a leveraged investment position. Margin Call: A demand from your broker to deposit more funds or sell assets because your account equity has fallen below the required margin level. Time Horizon: The length of time you plan to hold an investment before needing the money. Short horizons = more risk-sensitive, long horizons = more room to ride out volatility. Stock Split / Reverse Split: A split increases the number of shares (e.g., 2-for-1) while lowering the price per share. A reverse split reduces the number of shares (e.g., 1-for-10) while raising the price per share. Your overall value doesn’t change just the math. Long (Being Long): Buying a stock or asset because you expect the price to go up. Short (Being Short): Selling a stock you don’t own because you expect the price to go down, so you can buy it back cheaper later. TER: The total yearly cost of owning a fund, including the management fee plus other costs like administration, audits, and legal fees. MER: The annual cost that a fund charges for management (includes any leverage costs if used). Management Fee: A portion of the MER that goes directly to the fund managers for running the fund. Withholding Tax: A tax deducted on dividends/distributions from foreign investments (e.g., U.S. dividends to Canadian investors face a 15% withholding in TFSA/Non-Registered accounts). Total Returns: The full picture of an investment’s performance, including both price gains and dividends/distributions. CAGR: The average yearly growth of an investment over time. NAV: The price of one share of a fund (stock or etf) NAV Depreciation: When the fund’s share price goes down over time. Mutual Fund: A pool of money from many investors used to buy a mix of stocks, bonds, or other assets. Bond: A loan you give to a company or government, and they pay you back with interest. Asset: Anything valuable you own that can generate money. Portfolio: Your collection of investments. Option: A contract that gives you the right (but not the obligation) to buy or sell a stock at a set price. Future: A contract to buy or sell something at a set price on a future date. REIT: A company that owns real estate and pays investors income from rent. Alpha: A measure of how much better (or worse) an investment did compared to the market. Beta: A measure of how much an investment moves compared to the market. Sharpe Ratio: A way to see if returns are worth the risk taken. Hedging: Protecting your investments from risk. Rebalancing: Adjusting your portfolio back to your target mix of assets. FCF: Free Cash Flow Understanding these terms makes investing far less intimidating. If anyone feels other terms should be included, please share in the comments. I’ll update this post so we can build a complete beginner-friendly resource together! *Sorry tagged a few etfs for reach 🫣read more
What a ride life is. My wife and I have gone through the hardest of times the past 3 years and all of a sudden life alters. Since June we’ve had the birth of our baby girl, sold the family farm, bought our new home mortgage free and invested a large chunk including front loading an RESP for our daughter. Sometimes the hardest times come before the most beautiful moments. #blessed 🙏
Had a great time today at Invest Fest. Met a lot of great people. Added more people to list of connections. I'm here all weekend. Anyways I really think Blossom should consider Atlanta GA like they picked NYC.. Only posting this suggestion again cause I know some Canadians may not know all of the great cities that embrace investors and Business owners. Atlanta GA is one of those cities..
If you want to understand investing and the stock market better, start reading books, not just tweets. Some good books worth reading: • The Intelligent Investor — teaches patience and value investing • Rich Dad Poor Dad — changes how you think about money • Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits — helps you understand quality companies • The Richest Man in Babylon — simple lessons on wealth and discipline • Stock Market Investing for Beginners — useful for understanding investing basics A good investor doesn’t just chase profits… he keeps learning.read more
I'm the guy who did what you're not supposed to do: Several years ago, I was a space nerd and I had full conviction in a tiny, $2B market cap company: $RKLB I actually invested around the time of the IPO, building a modest position when the price was hovering between $10 and $15. Then, the speculative covid bubble burst, and the price plummeted to around $4 for a very long time. Being down 60%, I didn't panic sell. In fact, I doubled & tripled down several times. My final position was 5,500 shares at a cost basis of $5.95 USD. At the time, this was half my contribution room in my TFSA, which worked out to ~$42k CAD. There are many stories where a huge bet like this doesn't pan out, but in my case it succeeded tremendously. At RKLB's peak price, my TFSA was valued at $1.1M... as it stands now, my port is worth just under $800k as of this post. Dealing with both a hypervolatile portfolio and hectic life circumstances have numbed me to the day to day fluctuations of the market. At least, that has been my personal experience. I have had days where my portfolio is up almost $200k and days where I was down over $100k. These single-day fluctuations are greater than my annual salary at my day job. Crazy to think about, but I have been able to maintain a mental disconnect between the numbers on the screen and my day to day emotions. Have I trimmed? Yes. I sold 500 shares when RKLB was around $130. This doubled my initial investment and I only gave up 9% of my total position. I know the wise thing to do is to de-risk further, but RKLB is still my biggest conviction play and I am willing to let it ride as I don't need the money right now. If you want my future long-term picks, those would be $GRAB and $KLAR . The proceeds of my 500 share RKLB trim primarily went into these two stocks. Yes... I am still trying to beat the market. Stock picking generally doesn't work out in the long run, but I am having fun and I am confident in my theses for these two companies. I'll make another post in the future regarding my reasoning, so please follow if you find this stuff interesting or if you want to laugh at me if I lose it all. 😆 read more
Congratulations to Jared on achieving the rising star award. We finally met in person today and he definitely made my experience super enjoyable! Thanks Jared you deserve it!!
recently pass this milestone and very happy about it. Worked hard to get it there and I do not give up to move towards FIRE 🔥 ! I setted up a investment plan a few years ago, I followed it carefully, I've been opportunist along the way but honestly, I just stayed Invested in the market and in the Journey ! Never gave up ! Thanks to many of you and some Finfluancers that gave ideas, opinions, tricks and most important : the passion of investing 🙏 Growth investors , income or hybride it doesn't matter, as long as we love what we are doing! Making money in the last past 3 - 4 years was almost easy.. I'm not a genius and far away of that 🤪 ! Just patient like Warren Buffet said, the market is a incredible machine of transferring money from impatients to the patients so stay invested folks ! What helped to reach the milstone was of course... the controversial $MSTE Recently decided to get on-board as I learned more about the company. When it launched, I didn't understand $MSTR so I decided to stay away, then I saw the sharp decline.. along with bitcoin and... Hmmmmmm... maybe a great opportunity to learn about it.. 🤔😏 I did my research and as an income investor that seeking capital growth I now owning over 15K shares at 2.50$ / shares.. 50% Yield on cost.. Just hopping I didn't burn myself on this one for too long.. but prety confident that it will growth overtime base on my research.. 🤞 Not over 10 % of the portfolio yet but didn't plan to get it over 15% even if my conviction is strong. But it might be the important key for the next milestone 😏🤑 and anyway, I have an exist plan as it's a risky one... always have a plan ! 😜read more
I’m watching $MU closely here. The stock closed around 881 and is sitting right under the upper rail of its descending channel. This is the third test, and every prior attempt was sold. For me, 908 is the key. I want to see a real daily close above it not just a quick wick. If buyers clear that level, 988 becomes the next obvious resistance. The setup is getting interesting: momentum is improving, positioning still looks crowded, and volume will be the tell. If 908 fails again, I’m not forcing it. A move back toward the 870 area wouldn’t surprise me. Things are heating up. Still waiting for confirmation? Stay flexible. read more
Tesla is losing its place among the mag7. The hyperscalers are spending record capex but are growing at double digit clips and increasing margins. Tesla isn’t and is only a mag7 based purely on hype. Tesla is a great company, but it needs to deliver to remain among the mag7.
📊 Long-Term Investing: The Power of Thorough Analysis When it comes to long-term investing, understanding the fundamentals of a stock is crucial. It’s not just about jumping on trends; it’s about making informed decisions based on solid data. This chart breaks down the essential financial statements—Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and Cash Flow Statement—that every investor should analyze before committing to a stock. 🔍 Balance Sheet: This tells you about the company’s financial health, specifically its assets, liabilities, and equity. A healthy balance sheet is a sign of stability and resilience. 💸 Income Statement: This shows the company’s profitability by detailing revenue, expenses, and profits. A strong income statement indicates a company that’s generating profits, a key factor for long-term growth. 💰 Cash Flow Statement: This reveals how the company manages its cash, from operations to investments and financing. Positive cash flow is essential for sustaining operations and fueling future growth. By mastering these fundamentals, you can make smarter investment choices that stand the test of time. Remember, successful long-term investing isn’t about timing the market; it’s about time in the market, supported by thorough analysis. $VGT$TXN$QQQ$AAPL$META #InvestSmart #LongTermInvesting #FinancialLiteracy #StockMarketAnalysisread more
The AI Memory Sector is still intact and we see the big names, like $MU, $STX, $WDC, $SNDK, and $SKHY reporting and beating earnings estimates, as well as showing strong balance sheets and free cash flow. Micron, for instance, has $26 billion in cash and equivalents as of its most recent earnings report. $26 billion! I've said it once, and I'll say it again: AI memory demand is not going anywhere anytime soon. It is going to accelerate as the world makes use of AI agents. I am glad to see the sector dip, and I plan on buying more $DRAM tomorrow.
$SPCX is starting the development of Terafab, a vertically integrated factory with more than 100 million square feet (~1,700 football fields) to build the necessary chips to achieve 1 TW of compute demand for AI. $SPCX intends to partner exclusively with $NVDA. https://www.spacex.com/updates#terafab
