Investment changes during Covid? Good? Bad? What next?

[NPCampbell]

I'm curious what investment decisions people made during Covid? There was uncertainty at whether my job would still exist but once that was known I made a number of investment changes during Covid ... some good, some bad.

Bad:
1) Gold/silver. Had I owned it before Covid, the gains for 2020 were 50% better than the broad market.
2) Covid specific stocks like Zoom, Teladoc, Moderna, etc. I missed the boat on them and then thought the prices were too high in June so I avoided them and then they continued to rocket upwards.
3) I sold some index funds to buy pharma stocks during the April dip and they underperformed the index funds through year end
4) Same for my baking/food stocks

Good:
1) I sold 100% of my bonds during the April dip (6% of my entire portfolio) and invested in an aggressive mid-cap growth fund. My stock fund did 70% through year end, triple the growth of my bond fund.
2) I bought a lot of oil in the April dip. My gains were around 70% from the April dip to year end and I think they have about 20% more to go.

What's next:
1) I've bought quite a bit of discretionary income ETFs and
2) Travel ETFs
3) There's a lot of anti-business legislation being considered. If corporate taxes go up I think it will crater the recovering market. I need to figure out how to hedge against it. Maybe it's time to look at buffered ETFs?

What's not next:
1) Real estate. This sector did OK thru the end of last year but I don't see how commercial real estate is not going to be bloody for several years.
2) Bonds. With interest rates really low I don't think I am going to touch bonds for a while unless it's the buy and hold to maturity type.

[Anders]

I did absolutely nothing and left my money in the index and low cost managed funds.
Return was very nice last year and is still going up this year. Bear markets are good for investors as long as they don't bail out.

[arsenelupiga]

one needs to understand role of central banks. They play your emotions. They use printed money to support markets when everyone rightfully expects to fall, and withdraw support when everyone convinced all is good. So majority do not make money.

I think way way stretched are residential properties in capital cities and as prices shoot thru previous highs, now all is good. Right?

History telling us 2-3 years after actual event they on average withdraw support after everyone not scared any longer.

Position accordingly.

[apirate]

GameStop brought the biggest gains, right?!?

[sagablu]

Home building EFTs. . There is a shortage of residential home inventory. Sides people leaving large cities the millennials in general are pushing demand for single-family homes.

[Halam]

I read that some African tribes think we walk backward through life because we can see where we have been but not where we are going. Patterns do repeat and there will be a dip and we can't know when. Diversify and control costs - these are things you can control. To me, bonds are pointless and can only lose value when interest rates go up.

My approach is to invest in index funds and startups but not get into the punchup for listed tech stocks whose price seems fueled by exuberance (but so what if they are? so you need to get out before they pop).

[sailorboy1]

I rode it out and from beginning of 2020 to now it has been the right decision, a t least for me. But I will admit that for a while this time last year I stopped looking.

[dannc]

Rode it out. Looked very hard about moving around investments, but in the end, could not find an investment(s) that balanced risk and reward

Warren Buffet had an article I read years ago, at this point, might have been decades ago, about how a debtor nation pays off the debtee nation. Think US and China. The answer was simply higher inflation. The US owes dollars, so if one lowers the value of the dollar via inflation, one is paying of the debt with a cheaper currency.

I do not see how the US, and EU countries don't seem to be in much better shape with many being far worse, can escape the orgy of spending that has been happening for decades but increased with pandemic spending, without allowing inflation to increase and thus use cheaper currency to pay off the debt. By the way, China is not in a better position either. They have some huge problems that are far worse than the US. I just hope they don't believe their own propaganda....

Later,
Dan

[jdazey]

Originally Posted by Anders

I did absolutely nothing and left my money in the index and low cost managed funds.
Return was very nice last year and is still going up this year. Bear markets are good for investors as long as they don't bail out.

Left everything in S&P 500 index. So far, so good, and don't plan any changes.

[jim King]

It has been a good 4 years to be fully invested. I have been going in and out of stocks that have shown a fluctuation of 5 - 10% a couple times each year including energy and financials. I buy with each dip and sell whenever they make a 10% increase knowing they will take another dip. Holding about 20% reserve to buy in on each dip. I would be looking at infrastructure stocks also including those that are making batteries for the next big surge in electric cars. Lithium mines (SQM) would also big a good buy.

[NPCampbell]

Originally Posted by jdazey

Left everything in S&P 500 index. So far, so good, and don't plan any changes.

I consider the S&P 500 the gold standard. It beats a majority of the funds out there and I consider it a lost opportunity if I make an investment that doesn't beat it. Besides the S&P500 funds I do invest in the Fidelity Contrafund and TRP New Horizons fund as both have beaten the S&P 500 consistently for 5+ years.

[NPCampbell]

Originally Posted by jim King

It has been a good 4 years to be fully invested. I have been going in and out of stocks that have shown a fluctuation of 5 - 10% a couple times each year including energy and financials. I buy with each dip and sell whenever they make a 10% increase knowing they will take another dip. Holding about 20% reserve to buy in on each dip. I would be looking at infrastructure stocks also including those that are making batteries for the next big surge in electric cars. Lithium mines (SQM) would also big a good buy.

I do exactly this with oil but I normally wait for the larger dips, typically 30% or so. I have bought 3 times in the past 10 years and I normally make 50-80% while holding for around 1-2 years. I tend not to buy the bigger stocks because they don't dip as much. I focus on the 2nd tier stocks like Conoco, etc.

[jmschmidt]

There is a difference between an investor and a speculator. The poster is obviously the latter.

Guns, gold and real estate. They are not making any more of two of these and soon that will apply to all three.

[captmikem]

Silver, it has artificially been held down for too long. But have it physically, not held by some company. Jan thru march of 2021 more silver was traded than 2018 2019 combined.

Crypto, Bitcoin doubled end if Jan this year to end of Feb also watch THETA, HOT and ETHERIUM. Again, keep it on a personal wallet rather than let a company hold it for you.


M

[Clivevon]

OK - i'll weigh in. Just for a laugh... This thread is about money. This has nothing at all to do with cruising, but everything to do with cruising in the sense that any lifestyle needs some money.
After 44 years talking to people about money, I finally retired 3 years ago at age 72. IMHO, the most successful people never retire - they just carry on doing what they love until they drop. Others work at a job they cant wait to quit to make lots of money & "retire" early & call that success. Still others (maybe the most successful of all) make a huge success of their lives in all the most meaningful ways that have little to do with money... We all make life choices. (to be continued)