Trump gives a thanks to his “legendary friend” Elon Musk for pledging to give SpaceX $SPCX stock to millions of American children through Trump Accounts. I want a legendary friend.. 🥺
Here are 🚩3 big flags🚩that signal a company might not be a good investment, and I'll walk you through how to check for each one. (Free Stock Checklist at the end) --- 1️⃣ Declining Revenue or Earnings📉 🛑 Why it’s a red flag:A company with falling revenue or earnings may be losing market share, dealing rising costs, or the overall industry is shrinking. ✅ How to Check for This: A) Look at the Income Statement📊 - Find the company’s total revenue and net income in its latest financial report. Top-line & bottom-line, respectively. - Compare revenue and net income across multiple quarters/years. 3 years or 12 quarters is more than enough to indicate a trend - If both are consistently declining, it’s a warning sign. B) Check Earnings Reports🗂️ - Look at the company’s quarterly earnings reports to see if they’ve missed expectations multiple times. C) Compare to Competitors🔍 - Is the entire industry struggling, or just this company? 📚Website for financial reports: https://www.marketwatch.com/ --- 2️⃣ High Debt Levels 🛑 Why it’s a red flag:Companies with a capital structure heavily debt-reliant are more vulnerable in economic downturns and might struggle to repay obligations. ✅ How to Check for This: A) Find the Debt-to-Equity Ratio (D/E)📊 - Go to the company’s Balance Sheetin its latest report. - Find Total Debt and Total Equityand calculate: Debt-to-Equity Ratio = Total Debt ÷ Total Equity** - A D/E ratio above 2.0 (varies by industry) is usually risky. B) Check Interest Coverage Ratio🔍 - Look at the Income Statement for EBIT (Earnings Before Interest & Taxes). - Find Interest Expense and calculate:Interest Coverage Ratio = EBIT ÷ Interest Expense - If this ratio is below 1.5, the company may struggle to pay interest. 📚 Resources: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/debtratio.asp#:~:text=Key%20Takeaways&text=A%20company's%20debt%20ratio%20can,has%20more%20assets%20than%20debt --- 3️⃣ Poor Cash Flow 🛑 Why it’s a red flag:A company can be profitable on paper but still run out of cash to fund operations. ✅ How to Check for This: A) Find the Cash Flow Statement📜 - Look at Operating Cash FlowOCF). - If OCF is negative for multiple quarters, the company may be in trouble. B) Check Free Cash Flow (FCF)💰 - Free Cash Flow = Operating Cash Flow - Capital Expenditures - A company with negative FCF can’t reinvest in growth without taking on debt. 📚 Read more about Cash flow: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/stocks/07/easycashflow.asp ___________________________________________ Thanks for reading, I am open to engage in friendly conversations so I encourage you to leave a comment!💬 Access my free stock checklist at the link below⬇️ https://investingwithcole.gumroad.com/l/stockchecklist read more
I’ll be very honest with you. Options trading can be a powerful way to grow your trading account, and with the right knowledge, discipline, and risk management, it can open up opportunities that many traders overlook. But let’s be real: the risks are just as real as the rewards. Here’s what I normally advise: learn to diversify your knowledge, even if you specialize in one area. It’s good to be a master of one, but being knowledgeable in multiple areas of the market can give you an advantage. ✅ Learn the basics of crypto trading. ✅ Understand options trading and how to manage risk. ✅ Learn how to invest and trade stocks. ✅ Study momentum trading, including small-cap stocks. You don’t have to master everything overnight. Start with one, build your skills, and gradually expand your knowledge. Every market has something to teach you. Take me, for example. I’m primarily a dividend and ETF investor, but I also trade options, occasionally trade crypto, and understand some aspects of small-cap momentum trading. I’ve learned to diversify my investments and expand my trading knowledge while keeping my primary focus clear. My philosophy is simple: MASTER ONE, LEARN MANY, AND NEVER STOP LEARNING. 📚📊 You never know when the knowledge you gain in one area will help you understand another. Remember, diversification doesn’t eliminate risk, and spreading yourself across too many strategies without understanding them can do more harm than good. Build your foundation first. Master your craft. Then expand. read more
I spoke to a police officer today in the lower mainland who had a 300k down-payment for his house in Chilliwack, BC and his monthly mortgage payment is still $4500....thats 3 times my mortgage payment and we make roughly the same salary.... I literally don't know how folks out in Vancouver and Toronto do it? Unless someone has rich parents or living in tiny places... is everyone else just house poor?
A couple days ago me and my family returned from a 10 day vacation adventure across Vancouver Island. The excuse for us to go was to be part of the Victoria Marathon races... but after those 2 days... the rest was going all out exploring gems like Tofino, Ucluelet, Port Alberni, Nanimo and all the amazing natural wonders along the road trip. Now... everyone would say "very nice but everyone goes on vacations". Very true. But something personal about me that was engrained in my entire life was to be cost conscious, look for deals, pay off debts first, make sure the family finances will be there to protect the family thru life. So... it was RARE for me and my wife to ever splurge and go ALL OUT on a vacation and NOT WORRY how much something will cost. Sadly, I admit that often I would convince myself to not to a big life experience because maybe it was too expensive. And this was while i was working and had a good salary and knew that what ever I spent - my employment would eventually recover the costs... THEN CAME RETIREMENT... and as I am sure MOST pre-retirees think of and ok lets say WORRY ... will me and my family have enough income coming in from our investments and any pensions to pay all our bills for the next 30 years of our life.... MUCH LESS... to fully enjoy retirement and tackle big ticket items on our bucket list. Add to that - my life-long conditioning to be cost conscious and wow we don't have an employment income mindset. BUT... after 3 years of running and management m PIIVERSE Passive Income Portfolio... which has consistently generated over 3X more monthly cash then my family needs each month to pay for our lifestyle... AND.... thanks to my Daughter's boyfriend who never worries about cost - "LIVE FOR THE DAY" - kept subtly poking me to not worry about what it costs.... This vacation was simply amazing!! We went all out for what turned out to be an exclusive whale watching tour around Tofino, we rented two amazing AIR B&Bs - one overlooking the Georgia Strait at Nanimo, Went to what ever restaurants and never worried about the cost. and I will tell you - the experience for me was SURREAL... as one side of me kept whispering .. wow thats expensive... but then the other side of me said SHUT UP PERRY! 1/4 Month of distributions will pay for this entire vacation - JUST ENJOY! To know that not even does my income portfolio pay what ever bills i need to pay - that feeling of peace of mind that I DONT EVEN HAVE TO SELL ANY OF MY PORTFOLIO (no melting down) to pay these bills. That in the matter of weeks what ever expense i have will be recouped from distributions. I am sure many of you whom are retired and your wise investments have made your retirement that life of complete financial freedom to do what ever you want.... WELL... thanks to my income portfolio I built for myself... I cant explain how amazing a feeling it was to just let go and enjoy and not worry "how much will that cost". NOW I need to keep this mindset and to it more often!read more
I've been really MIA on Blossom since the passing of my sister... It's given me a lot of time to reflect on things. I still enjoy everything about finance and check my portfolio often, but I really want to stress the importance of realizing why we are doing this. What is the end goal of all of this? Seeing a loved one go in their early 30s is difficult, and it's made me realize that the time we have on this planet is really, really short. I have come to the realization that staring at numbers and watching them grow isn't as important as spending some of that time with loved ones. I want to start taking the kiddos on more vacations, buy the van that the wife wants, and try to see my parents more. The key for me will still be to be responsible with my finances, but instead of waiting for that next portfolio goal, waiting for the kids to grow older, or waiting to retire... why not live now? The whole point of becoming wealthy is to USE THE WEALTH, not to stash more and more so we can become so rich that we never actually enjoy the short time we are given on Earth. When the drunk driver went head on with her Uber vehicle, I truly believe she had no clue, could've just been chilling on her phone in the back then dead the next second...goes to show our life could end at any second and we might not even realize it. This post isn't saying we shouldn't be financially responsible, but that we should also enjoy life today... Tell your loved ones you love them, and use your finances to better your life. Willread more
Well!! Today isn’t a day to jump back into $XEQT hopping $TSLA and $META bring the market down tomorrow after earnings it has already jumped before the numbers are even out. 😵
Very good earnings, great company, visionary leader, future focused, great financials, essentially own social media. Is that not something you want to be invested in? $META
TOP 8 STOCKS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS DRAWDOWN: 1. $NBIS Nebius Group 2. $ASTS AST SpaceMobile 3. $RKLB Rocket Lab Corp 3. $AEHR Aehr Test Systems 4. $AVGO Broadcom 5. $GOOGL Alphabet 6. $VRT Vertiv Holdings 7. $CRDO Credo Technology 8. $NVDA Nvidia Corp Anything else a must add?read more
$META Q3 results are in Rev came in at $64.6B, up 26% YoY. Street was expecting ~$63.3B, so that's a clean beat. Ads did all the work again $63.1B in ad rev, prices up 14%, impressions up 10%. EPS shows $3.83, which looks bad at first glance. But w/o the one-time legal charge it was $7.40, way above the ~$6.54 expected. The charge is a $9.9B settlement w/ 52 state AGs over teen safety cases. It dragged operating income down to $13B and margin to 20% (was 40% last yr). Big number, but it's a legal bill, not the business slowing down. Q4 guidance: $73–76B rev, basically in line. FY capex floor bumped up to $135–145B — AI spending isn't slowing down. Stock is up ~6% AH. Market basically shrugged off the settlement bc the core biz beat and guidance held.read more
Here are my top 9 most favorite books on the topics of money, investing, and the psychology related to it. 🙂 I have also shared my short takeaways from each of these books: ✅ Reboot Your Portfolio (Dan Bortolotti): By simply "owning the market" through globally diversified index funds, you will almost certainly enjoy better performance than the vast majority of investors who buy actively managed funds or try to pick their own stocks. Over the long term, index funds offer the highest probability of achieving your investment goals. ✅ Atomic Habits (James Clear): If you can get 1% better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done. Focus on making tiny adjustments to your behavior, as small changes lead to lasting improvements. ✅ Die with Zero (Bill Perkins): Maximize meaningful and memorable experiences in your lifetime when you are healthy and have the capacity to do so. Invest in experiences that yield long-lasting memories and pay you regular "memory dividends". ✅ The Simple Path to Wealth (JL Collins): Build a financial cushion (F-You Money) to give you a choice, and invest through low cost, broad-market, diversified index funds. ✅ Rich Dad, Poor Dad (Robert Kiyosaki): Use your money to acquire assets instead of liabilities. ✅ Choose FI (Chris Mamula, Brad Barrett, Jonathan Mendonsa): Achieving Financial Independence requires a plan, much like building a house, but it is not a one-size-fits-all approach and you can tailor it based on your own journey. ✅ Quit Like A Millionaire (Kristy Shen, Bryce Leung, JL Collins): Spend your money on experiences that last a lifetime that on material stuff and consumer debt. ✅ The Psychology of Money (Morgan Housel): Managing your emotional impulses and learning how to behave in face of challenging money decisions, play a crucial role in your financial success. ✅ I will teach you to be rich (Ramit Sethi): Develop a "Conscious Spending Plan" that aligns with your values and financial goals. 📚 Learn More: https://youtu.be/KIXOYvKgtnw ➡️ What are your favorite money/investing/self-development book recommendations?read more
Pre Market Report Futures are green Watch $SPY support and resistance Support 753.10 Resistance 778.32 Pivot 765.71 You won’t get this information from certain paid discordsread more
$META had a really solid quarter, with the stock up over 5% following a clean Q3 beat and raise. Revenue came in at $64.6B with EPS at $3.83 (beating $3.57 expectations). More importantly, ad momentum heading into Q4 looks strong, with guidance coming in at $74.5B at the midpoint versus the $73.57B consensus. What caught my eye though: they’re setting up a new class of non-voting shares to fund their AI roadmap. CapEx for FY26 is getting trimmed/narrowed to $135B–$145B, so the AI spending spree isn't slowing down anytime soon, but they’re finding distinct ways to resource it. A never sell stock for me, and only to be added to on pullbacks and drawdowns.read more
Caution... this is a loooong one... A while back, I showed y'all our plans to build a cabin on our property. We wanted to do this for more than one reason. It would sure be nice to have extra space for visitors, a place to set up my drums and to earn some extra income, via short term rentals. I have been terrible, but lucky with money, for most of my life. But then our luck turned, we sold our condo in the city and moved to the North of BC. Not too long after, we bought a property and cleared it to build a house. Things were getting pretty exciting. Then the fire happened. On a Friday in April, one of the burn piles that we all thought was out, turned out to have gone underground and as soon as the hot weather hit, it reignited! Turns out, it travelled underground, a substantial distance and reared it's ugly head again. I learned later, that this is why they call them "Zombie Fires". 27 hectares burned. No one got hurt and no infrastructure was hurt, save for a few fence posts. Talk about lucky... More than 3 years later, I got a big binder in the mail. There was an investigation going on, behind the scenes and this binder laid it all out. On one of the last pages, the conclusion... it's my fault. I owe the government $108,000. 💰 💰 💰 I appealed. I lost. 😞 While analyzing the documents through the appeal process though, I noticed something... they were wrong. Some would say they were lying, or misrepresenting the evidence, or maybe it was an honest blunder. So, given this, I hired a lawyer. We appealed again. We won. 🙌 We won so good, that the judge awarded us damages of $10k. 💸💸💸 Then things got real interesting. While the judge chastised them for omitting inconvenient evidence, he admitted that he didn't have the authority to kill the whole thing and set me and my family free from this massive stress. The most he could do, was to leave it up to the Government, to decide if they wanted to have another crack at pursuing it... and they did. Months passed by (or was it years? It was all a blur). Finally, their new investigation came through. This time, while reading it through, I noticed something that was missing from the other reports... this person really knew their 💩...uh oh... 😬 As I read through the entire report, word for word, I finally got to the dreaded ending (this is where they tell you how much trouble you're in). Only this time it said, I was right. I wasn't in trouble. I didn't have to pay the $108,000. I would've happily crapped my pants, if my brain wasn't telling me that this can't be real. I called my lawyer. He said it looks like you won! I still didn't believe it. I asked him to get it in writing that they were never going to pursue this again... and he did. We won. Full stop. I still get a lump in my throat when I think about this (let alone write about it). All I can say, is that a lot of lessons were learned. The obvious one: never trust fire. The one that sticks just as much, but in a different way: Never give up! I saved money like Scrooge McDuck, the whole time this appeal process was going on. I realized just how insane it is that someone can save $100,000 in a short time, with a decent job, low debts and a huge dollop of discipline with a side of sacrifice. It's never knew I had it in me and it took a forest fire and the government suing me, to realize that I actually did. So I guess if I'm gonna demand your attention for this long, the least I can do is leave you with a moral to the story. Here goes: Don't wait for tragedy to set you straight. You you know you've got it in you. I knew. I just buried it deep for no good reason. Let that shit go and get on with building the life you know you deserve! As for the cabin... The land is ready and we are looking at building next spring! 🏠🌳🏔️ *some of the key investments that helped get me here: $FINN$POW$ARG$LBS$APLD$APPread more
These aren’t rules, facts or anything definitive; just some of the many opinions I’ve built over nearly 30yrs of stock investing. Take em' or leave em', it's all good to me because they're accurate. 🤷♂️ Here goes, in no particular order. Far too many investors… … have a gambling mentality when it comes to investing. ... focus on where a stock once traded to determine 'fair value’. ... think their pain threshold for unrealized losses is far higher than reality. ... risk far too much for a potentially very small win. ... create a lot of bad habits during bull markets. ... fail to acknowledge mistakes, so they fail to learn from them. ... under-estimate how can be lost going all-in on high or no P/E growth. ... rely on 'wishful thinking' over an actual 'investment thesis'. ... ignore anything negative about their stocks due to confirmation bias. ... will jump into day trading and/or margin usage at worst possible times. ... make blindly 'buying the dip' they're primary investing strategy. ... consider bullish "what-ifs" , while ignoring bearish "what-ifs". … equate every bit of news as a catalyst, while it's just ‘business as usual’. .*. spend too much time on small positions & not enough on large positions. .*. fall prey to "how much lower can it go" thinking, and later learn A LOT! ... underestimate 'company specific risk' and invest too much in one stock. ... worry about how they rank against others instead of focusing on self. … don’t understand what ‘the market is forward looking’ truly means. ... fail to factor 'we don't know what we don't know' in investment thesis. ... confuse getting lucky with having a sound investment thesis. ... will eventually get kicked in the throat by an unexpected margin call. .*. own too many individual stocks complicating things for no reason. … don’t spend enough time trying to break their bullish investment thesis. … scream "manipulation", when wrong about their favorite stock. ... spend too much time on social media telling others their stocks are best. ... think 'time in the market' guarantees profits, which isn't true for stocks. ... fall for recency bias when projecting future returns. … think they know more about a stock/company, than they actually do. ... sell their winners early and hold their losers indefinitely. ... willingly pay high expenses on ETFs that don't deliver. .*. happily DCA to lower cost basis, but won't do it to raise cost basis. ... turn a blind eye to dilution from rampant share issuance. ... ignore importance of long-term diversification. ... assume any ETF or mutual fund is safer than a stock. .*. get caught up believing the hype of a highly speculative stock. ... don't bother researching balance sheet & other key metrics.. ... under-estimate what's needed to retire 'comfortably', incl. fire/coast fire. .*. over-estimate what's needed to retire 'comfortably' (opposite of above). ... are far too quick to give advice while being ill-equipped to do so. ... over-estimate their true returns by failing to offset deposits. ... get cocky during bear markets & ultimately lose years of gains because of it. I think I've shared something similar to this in the past, so if I'm being honest, not really sure why I'm sharing... As with most of my posts, it's likely driven by what I'm seeing in my Blossom feed. And full disclosure, I've been guilty of a few of these (.*.) myself. Maybe you're guilty of some too. ** Wanted or not, I'll add to this list as more come to mind. **read more
This video is probably more relevant to those who have already implemented the Smith Manoeuvre or are considering implementing it. 🙂 I wanted to share a behind-the-scenes look at how I do it in practice. My Smith Manoeuvre portfolio is now worth over $246,000 after nearly five years, and in this video, I walk through the step-by-step process of borrowing from my Scotiabank HELOC, transferring the funds to Wealthsimple, and using the money to buy more shares of XEQT in my non-registered investment account. I also share a few lessons I've learned along the way, including why I leave some available credit as a buffer for interest charges, how I keep track of transactions for tax documentation, and the differences I've noticed between using Wealthsimple and Questrade for the Smith Manoeuvre. ⚠️ This video shares my personal experience and is for educational purposes only, not financial advice. Borrowing to invest involves risk, including the possibility of investment losses, rising interest rates, and owing more than your investments are worth. Tax deductibility depends on your specific circumstances and applicable CRA rules. Do your own research and consider consulting a qualified professional before implementing a similar strategy. 💬 For those who have implemented the Smith Manoeuvre or are considering it, what's your biggest question about the process?** https://youtu.be/i_Somn5JrjQ read more
Just arrived home from a quick trip to London - it was my first time visiting. What a cool city. Full of friendly people. And so much character! Found it super interesting to learn that there’s still very much a ‘saving’ mentality in the UK. But that seems to be changing. Shoutout to Max for delivering an incredible speech (as usual) about Blossom. He presented our platform and mission in a great way and it was very well received by the Brits!
What’s the most important thing you look for when researching a stock and finding a winner? What are the things that a stock must have in order for you to own it? Let me know below, i’m super curious!
📊 Strong earnings and cheaper oil steadied the market. The Dow jumped 1.02% to 52,495.88, the S&P 500 added 0.29%, the Nasdaq slipped 0.02% and Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite climbed 0.50%. WTI fell 1.8% to settle at $101.79 and Brent declined 0.7% to $108.79. 🔧 3M ($MMM) popped 5.78% to $171.37 after posting adjusted earnings of $2.50 per share against the $2.38 LSEG estimate and raising full year guidance. It was the Dow’s biggest boost. 📊 Equifax ($EFX) leapt almost 12% on third quarter adjusted earnings of $2.26 per share, beating the $2.20 FactSet consensus. Revenue of $1.69 billion landed in line, though the credit bureau trimmed its 2026 revenue guidance. ✈️ GE Aerospace ($GE) fell 3.67% to $299.87 despite beating on both lines and hiking full year guidance. Adjusted earnings of $2.25 per share topped the $2.01 estimate, but free cash flow of $2.04 billion came in under the $2.2 billion expected. ☁️ CoreWeave ($CRWV) gained more than 1% even as its credit stress deepened. The spread on its five-year credit default swap topped 1,121, up more than 17% over the past week, and anything above 1,000 is generally read as distress. 🏠 Housing starts tumbled 5.2% in September to an annualized 1.22 million, well under the 1.3 million consensus. Single-family starts fell 4.6% to 859,000, though building permits came in slightly ahead of expectations at 1.4 million. 👨🏻💻 Researched and written daily by @timeminoread more
Fidelity has published the new Top 10 holdings (as of September 30, 2026). For comparison purposes, I have published the previous Top 10 holdings (as of June 30, 2026). Increased number of holdings and lots of movement in the bottom of the top 10. SK Hynix ($SKHY) is out, and a DNA sequencing company (Illumina $ILMN) is now Top 8 !
I'm working on an ETF deep dive into $HDIV, one of the most requested ETFs. I want to know what YOU actually want answered.... not just the advertised yield or how much it pays every month. I want to dig into the numbers and the questions that matter to YOU. How sustainable are the distributions? How much comes from return of capital? What are the underlying holdings actually doing? How does the leverage affect risk? Is HDIV delivering enough total return to justify its costs and complexity? Those are just a few starting points and examples.... What are the HARD questions you want me to answer? And as always, this is open to all, whether you're a holder, thinking of buying it ... or skeptical of the whole covered call strategy. I'd love to hear what you want to know and then i'll do my very best to separate the marketing from the data. Ps. The tougher the questions, the better 😏
If I could only hold ONE fund for the next 30 years, I'm STUCK between two. $VOO is the simple, classic answer. $QQQM turned $10K into almost $65K over the last decade, but 2022 showed how brutal that ride gets. $VTI owns every corner of the US and $VT owns the whole planet for 0.07%. Me, I'm an S&P 500 guy long term, but I'd be lying if I said I never peek at $QQQM. One fund. 30 years. No switching. Which one are you picking?
📊 Traders moved back into tech after last week’s AI rout. The Nasdaq rose 1.11% to 26,430.89, the S&P 500 added 0.41% and the Dow slipped 0.07%. The S&P lost nearly 2% last week, its worst since late June, while the Nasdaq tumbled 4.5%. 💻 Intel ($INTC) advanced 2% on a JPMorgan upgrade, part of a broad chip bounce that snapped a nine-day losing streak. The iShares Semiconductor ETF ($SOXX) gained 3.7%, with Sandisk up more than 6%, Marvell nearly 7% and Micron ($MU) about 3%. ☁️ CoreWeave ($CRWV) fell 0.4%, reversing early gains despite a Goldman Sachs upgrade to buy. Goldman cut its target to $106 from $139, still implying 73% upside. The stock dropped more than 25% last week, its worst since November 2025, and its credit default swaps have reached distress levels. 🗄️ Oracle ($ORCL) bonds are sitting close to junk territory as the AI trade cools. A downgrade would push its debt below investment grade, with knock-on effects across the financing that funds the buildout. 📉 Gartner is standing by its call that $3.5 trillion in AI investment is at risk on profitability concerns. Chief forecaster John Lovelock told CNBC compute capacity currently exceeds demand, with a lot of tokens being given away free, and expects most AI markets to collapse into a duopoly. 🏠 Homebuilder confidence fell to 29 in October, its lowest since June 2012, as mortgage rates topped 7%. NAHB’s Robert Dietz said buyer traffic is the weakest since April 2012 outside the pandemic. The iShares Mortgage Real Estate ETF hit $16.71, a six-year low. 🛢️ Oil split as Ukraine struck a St. Petersburg oil terminal and ship attacks picked up in the Persian Gulf. WTI settled up 2.22% at $103.66 while Brent fell 0.28% to $109.55. Longer-dated futures are rising on expectations the disruptions run well into 2027. 👨🏻💻 Researched and written daily by @timeminoread more
The downward pressure for the Neo Cloud vertical right now is without question being applied from the cost of borrowing money, which is completely tethered to bond yields. As yields come back in, and they will, so the pressure on the Neo Cloud companies will be relieved. The key to success here is to be selective, this sector is not a monolith. Do your own research and conduct your own due diligence. The fundamentals of companies we own are critical. My pick in this sector is $NBIS, not that I see anything fundamentally wrong with $CRWV, $IREN or $APLD either .. I simply believe that Nebius is the strongest of the sector and even if not, great gains can be made from investing in and holding shares over the next 5 years.read more
$VXUS holds 8,790 stocks.. That’s EIGHT THOUSAND, SEVEN HUNDRED and NINETY….. To some, that sounds like diversification on steroids, over kill… HOWEVER, those 8,790 stocks are actually equivalent to owning only about 239 equally weighted stocks. That’s its effective number of stocks. It's a lot more than the S&P 500... but not as much as I personally thought! And that’s just ONE of the things I found digging into VXUS, Vanguards Total International Stock Index ETF. I also found some pretty surprising differences between VXUS and the S&P 500 ($VOO / $VFV ) that made me rethink what “international diversification” means to your portfolio. I broke down the performance, valuation, holdings, sectors, countries and risk in my latest VXUS deep dive. I’d love to know your perspective on this! https://youtu.be/NcafSSVfMXs It’s definitely more complicated than the “US is expensive, international is cheap” .... Would you include international stocks in one ETF as part of your portfolio? Why or why not? Let's get this conversation going guys!!! read more
How does a 16-year-old build a six-figure stock portfolio? In this episode of the Retail Rundown Podcast, 16-year-old Charan from New Jersey shares how he went from a 7th grade stock market competition to running a six-figure portfolio, while building 240K+ followers on Instagram and a 30,000-member Discord community along the way. That journey has included some huge swings, including a nearly $100K win on $PENG options and a $60K options loss on $AAOI that completely changed how he sizes trades, takes profits, and cuts losses. Charan explains how he researches stocks using AI and social media, why he’s bullish on memory stocks like $SNDK and $MU, why he bought $NBIS after Michael Burry went short, and why he thinks dropping out of high school to day trade is a mistake https://youtu.be/ZZ_PetTNbBo?si=QSEmMhrjwRYQ9Alw
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
I am currently 47 years old. Unfortunately in that time frame I have lost a lot of family members. Some (most) were accidents, some to age, some to cancer, and one to suicide. That’s 11 deaths total. Only 1 person out of 11 had a will. When you are grieving the last thing you want to do is close an estate up. It’s even harder if nothing has been prepared in advance. After the initial shock of the death settles (the phase where everyone is usually nice), greed comes through in a most alarming manner. I’ve watched people turn into monsters. Make sure you have a will!!!! or people will fight. I know most people hate thinking about their death or their spouses death but honestly it’s just a fact of life. I’ve personally been the executor of 2 estates now. This is my advice: 1. If your young get life insurance. If you’re retired it’s not worth it. 2. Make sure you have a will. 3. Make sure you have a personal directive. 4. Make sure you have a power of attorney set up. 5. If your married make your spouse the beneficiary of your TFSA and RRSP(has to be done through the account not the will), they will roll into the spouses account without taxation. 6. If you’re married, and you own a house, make sure both names are on the title, joint tenant, NOT tenant in common. This activates right of survivorship on property and doesn’t have to go through the estate. 7. If you’re married, both people should have their name on all the vehicles, joint, otherwise it’s a headache after death. 8. Buy a file folding system. I have a plastic one that has a clasp and handle. 9. Put EVERYTHING in this file folder that would be needed if you died tomorrow. a) all land titles B) information on house insurance so it can either be eventually canceled or name changed over. C) your will (or the location of your will), power of attorney, and personal directive D) the information for your car, car insurance, and registration on vehicles. E) information on life insurance. F) all current year papers needed for filing your taxes. Because the survivor will have to do it and will need that information. G) where your household bills are. ALL OF THEM, electricity, gas, Netflix, magazine, subscriptions everything you can think of that is in their name. Because you are going to have to cancel them. H) their credit card information where to contact to cancel the cards I) birth certificate, SIN numbers, marriage, license, etc. J) information on all your investments accounts, bank accounts, etc. K) anything else you can think of for your situation If you’re married, I’d have one box per person. When you die, the funeral home will issue many death certificates. And your lawyer will give you copies of the will. These will be needed to change over any accounts. Everything else goes through the estate which is taxed and the lawyers take their fees so I’d avoid this as much as possible especially if you’re married. This is why having property in both people‘s names is so important because it doesn’t have to go through probate. I am widowed now and I have my black file folder and my two remaining children know if something happens to me, all they have to do is grab the folder. Everything they need to take care of my estate will be located in this folder. At the beginning of every year, I open this file up and go through everything to make sure it’s up-to-date. If you are young and do not own much or can’t afford a will, you can draft one up but it must be handwritten to be classified as a legal document. You cannot type it out!! If you’re not worth much, everything will most likely be sold to pay your bills and cover your funeral expenses. But you can state who your executor will be in your handwritten will. Disclaimer I’m not a lawyer or an accountant and this is not legal advice. Talk to a lawyer and talk to an accountant. Make sure everything is set up for you and your situation. These are situations that I personally ran into. Good luck Also I’ll add in. IF you have a lot of assets make an appointment with your accountant first. They will tell you how to properly set things up. Then take that information to your lawyer. read more
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