2024 August ($39,500)

I deposit $1000/mo into a Fidelity investment account, $32,000 total since 2022. I try to pick stocks to hold until retirement.

I’m still writing my book, and reading a lot, like On Writing, a collection of Hemingway quotes about writing, like to his executors: “It is my wish that none of these letters written by me during my lifetime shall be published. Accordingly, I hereby request and direct you not to publish or consent to the publication by others, of any such letters.”

Fund 1-month 3-month YTD 1-year
My Fund 0.5% 3.6% 12% 20.6%
S&P 500 2.4% 7.4% 18% 27.1%
Dow Jones 2.1% 7.3% 15.7% 26.2%

Once again defeated by the market.

Here’s how the last month’s changes (most of July) looked on finviz on August 3rd:

the last month's market

That’s more big red squares than usual, and red semiconductors.

The Chipotle CEO moved to Starbucks, I own both. Starbucks is up 25% this month, my one share is +10%

Exits

I exited 22 positions this month - the consolidation begins.

thismo cost $gain %gain tkr div description cat area type MCbil
-$61 $ 15 $ (5) -2% TSN 4.1% TYSON FOODS food USA meat 23
-$61 $ 7 $ (6) -5% AAP 1.6% ADVANCE AUTO cars USA parts 3
-$45 $ 31 $ (29) -36% ALGT 1.9% ALLEGIANT TR travel USA air 1
-$37 $ (18) $ 19 33% NOV 1.9% NOV INC COM industry USA oil 7
-$28 $ 6 $ (4) -13% BEPC 4.2% BROOKFIELD R energy USA green 5
-$28 $ 1 $ 0 1% CWEN 5.6% CLEARWAY ENE energy USA green 6
-$27 $ 8 $ (7) -20% MOS 2.3% MOSAIC CO NE industry USA fertal 9
-$26 $ 2 $ (0) -1% NEP 6.4% NEXTERA ENER energy USA util 2
-$23 $ (10) $ 16 16% JBSAY 6.0% JBS SA SPON food America meat 10
-$21 $ (20) $ 20 28% LILA 0.0% LIBERTY LATI media America liberty 2
-$20 $ 122 $ (122) -68% SATS 0.0% DISH NETWORK media USA   5
-$19 $ 42 $ (42) -36% VSAT 0.0% VIASAT INC coms USA   2
-$17 $ (3) $ 3 20% GSHD 0.0% GOOSEHEAD IN finance USA insure 3
-$16 $ 1 $ (1) -2% HE 0.0% HAWAIIAN ELE energy USA util 1
-$14 $ 3 $ (2) -5% HPK 0.9% HIGHPEAK ENE energy USA oil 2
-$13 $ 1 $ (1) -7% UTMD 0.8% UTAH MEDICAL health USA devices 0
-$13 $ 4 $ (4) -22% DBRG 0.1% DIGITALBRIDG finance USA land 2
-$13 $ 0 $ (0) -2% HHH 0.0% HOWARD HUGH travel America land 4
-$13 $ 27 $ (27) -68% SEDG 0.0% SOLAREDGE TE energy USA solar 1
-$11 $ 79 $ (69) -58% WBA 8.6% WALGREENS BO retail USA health 8
-$3 $ 27 $ (26) -60% SAVE 2.2% SPIRIT AIRLI travel USA air 0
-$2 $ 27 $ (27) -70% PLUG 0.0% PLUG POWER I energy USA H 2

You can see in the last column that these are small companies, with less than a $10bil market cap. I don’t know enough about these companies to overweight them, and their small size makes them volatile. The biggest ones, JBSAY and TSN, are both meat companies, and I don’t want to be in meat. Many of these were small positions (<$30) because they’re down (buy high sell low right?) and I didn’t have much confidence in them anyway (lol Spirit Airlines SAVE) and there’s no gains tax.

Here’s what that consolidation looks like: the last month's market

I went down to 224 positions (I bought a few), so my average position is $147, which is only 0.4% of the total I’ve deposited. There will be more consolidation in the coming months.

Reductions

Preparing more companies for the chopping block, soon we’ll say bon voyage to cruises.

%pos> thismo shrs cost value $gain %gain tkr div description acct% cat area type S&P MCbil
-18% -$13 2 $ 54 $ 58 $ 5 8% LUV 1.9% SOUTHWEST AI 0.1% travel USA air 1994 17
-24% -$16 3 $ 61 $ 50 $ (4) -5% STLA 8.6% STELLANTIS N 0.1% cars Europe     45
-26% -$16 6 $ 146 $ 47 $ (99) -39% WBD 0.0% WARNER BROS 0.1% media USA   2022 19
-47% -$32 2 $ (32) $ 36 $ 68 36% NCLH 0.0% NORWEGIAN CR 0.1% travel USA cruise 2017 8
-22% -$10 1 $ 36 $ 36 $ 0 1% ALK 0.0% ALASKA AIR G 0.1% travel USA air   5
-47% -$30 2 $ (60) $ 33 $ 93 65% CCL 0.0% CARNIVAL COR 0.1% travel USA cruise   21
-15% -$6 1 $ 40 $ 34 $ (6) -12% YUMC 0.8% YUM CHINA HL 0.1% food China retail   13
-48% -$27 2 $ (48) $ 30 $ 78 57% CUK 0.0% CARNIVAL ADR 0.1% travel USA cruise   21
-43% -$22 4 $ 145 $ 30 $ (96) -47% WB 8.9% WEIBO ADR RE 0.1% tech China sw   2
-47% -$21 1 $ 134 $ 24 $ (111) -50% LSXMA 0.0% LIBERTY MEDI 0.1% media USA liberty   10
-51% -$22 2 $ 127 $ 21 $ (99) -46% PARA 3.4% PARAMOUNT GL 0.1% media USA   1994 7
-31% -$10 2 $ 39 $ 21 $ (18) -22% AAL 0.0% AMERICAN AIR 0.1% travel USA air 2015 7
-53% -$17 3 $ 12 $ 15 $ 3 10% JBLU 0.0% JETBLUE AWYS 0.0% travel USA air   2

Buys

I increased 44 positions and started 4 new ones (like Door Dash).

# %pos> thismo shrs cost value $gain %gain tkr div description acct% cat area type /s&p S&P MCbil
1 7% $222 14 $ 2,458 $ 3,206 $ 759 31% AAPL 0.4% APPLE INC 8.2% multi USA tech 1.1 1982 3,482
2 13% $326 7 $ 2,655 $ 2,920 $ 272 10% MSFT 0.3% MICROSOFT CO 7.4% multi USA tech 1.1 1994 3,101
4 11% $218 13.8 $ 1,740 $ 2,279 $ 541 31% GOOG 0.1% ALPHABET INC 5.8% multi USA tech 1.3 2006 2,020
5 12% $222 11.3 $ 1,895 $ 2,017 $ 122 6% AMZN 0.0% AMAZON.COM I 5.1% multi USA tech 1.3 2005 1,873
6 4% $43 2.5 $ 981 $ 1,190 $ 209 21% BRK.B 0.0% BERKSHIRE HA 3.0% multi USA   1.4 2010 1,021
7 3% $22 16 $ 974 $ 912 $ (46) -5% OXY 1.6% OCCIDENTAL P 2.3% energy USA oil 19.9 1957 53
8 2% $14 4.4 $ 441 $ 755 $ 321 73% TSM 1.4% TAIWAN SEMIC 1.9% tech Asia sc’s 1.3   690
18 14% $46 0.8 $ 363 $ 387 $ 25 7% MA 0.2% MASTERCARD I 1.0% finance USA credit 1.0 2008 447
21 17% $53 1.3 $ 352 $ 359 $ 8 2% V 0.1% VISA INC 0.9% finance USA credit 0.8 2009 546
25 20% $53 2.7 $ 201 $ 322 $ 121 60% NVDA 0.0% NVIDIA CORPO 0.8% tech USA sc’s 0.1 2001 2,928
31 4% $11 0.73 $ 251 $ 254 $ 2 1% CHTR 0.0% CHARTER COM 0.6% coms USA   6.0 2016 50
37 5% $12 0.4 $ 206 $ 236 $ 32 15% UNH 0.6% UNITEDHEALTH 0.6% health USA insure 0.5 1994 545
38 5% $12 2 $ 223 $ 236 $ 20 9% XOM 3.0% EXXON MOBIL 0.6% energy USA oil 0.5 1957 524
44 7% $12 0.75 $ 151 $ 194 $ 44 29% AXP 0.7% AMERICAN EXP 0.5% finance USA credit 1.2 1976 184
50 11% $17 1 $ 156 $ 172 $ 18 11% PG 1.3% PROCTER AND 0.4% retail USA health 0.5 1957 403
52 9% $14 2.3 $ 143 $ 167 $ 26 18% KO 1.8% COCA-COLA C 0.4% food USA cola 0.6 1957 312
55 9% $13 1 $ 133 $ 163 $ 30 22% AVGO 0.4% BROADCOM IN 0.4% tech USA sc’s 0.3 2014 758
68 14% $16 1.6 $ 117 $ 129 $ 14 12% NEE 1.8% NEXTERA ENER 0.3% energy USA util 0.9 1976 165
69 12% $14 0.9 $ 110 $ 127 $ 18 16% ORCL 0.4% ORACLE CORP 0.3% tech USA cloud 0.4 1989 389
71 11% $12 0.7 $ 118 $ 121 $ 4 3% PEP 1.0% PEPSICO INC 0.3% food USA cola 0.6 1957 237
75 16% $14 1.5 $ 97 $ 107 $ 13 13% SHEL 2.8% SHELL PLC SP 0.3% energy Europe oil 0.6   221
79 15% $13 0.4 $ 106 $ 101 $ (5) -4% CRM 0.1% SALESFORCE I 0.3% tech USA cloud 0.5 2008 245
78 16% $15 0.7 $ 112 $ 104 $ (8) -7% AMD 0.0% ADVANCED MIC 0.3% tech USA sc’s 0.5 2017 240
85 17% $13 0.35 $ 88 $ 94 $ 7 8% DHR 0.1% DANAHER COR 0.2% industry USA health 0.6 1998 194
86 12% $10 0.4 $ 80 $ 94 $ 14 18% ADI 0.5% ANALOG DEVIC 0.2% tech USA sc’s 0.9 1999 117
94 11% $8 1 $ 80 $ 83 $ 3 3% CP 0.2% CANADIAN PAC 0.2% industry America rail 0.9   104
92 20% $14 0.6 $ 79 $ 83 $ 5 7% NVO 0.6% NOVO NORDISK 0.2% health Europe pharm 0.2   472
97 24% $14 1 $ 67 $ 72 $ 7 11% GIS 2.2% GENERAL MILL 0.2% food USA grocery 2.1 1957 40
99 16% $10 0.35 $ 61 $ 70 $ 9 14% TMUS 0.2% T-MOBILE US 0.2% coms USA   0.3 2019 232
103 11% $7 2 $ 71 $ 68 $ (3) -4% BP 1.4% BP PLC SPONS 0.2% energy Europe oil 0.9   92
101 20% $11 0.12 $ 56 $ 68 $ 13 23% LMT 0.7% LOCKHEED MA 0.2% industry USA aero 0.6 1957 135
104 22% $12 0.11 $ 62 $ 68 $ 5 9% TMO 0.1% THERMO FISHE 0.2% health USA tech 0.3 2004 235
105 25% $13 0.2 $ 59 $ 67 $ 8 13% AMGN 0.4% AMGEN INC 0.2% health USA pharm 0.4 1992 179
114 19% $10 0.3 $ 52 $ 61 $ 9 18% IBM 0.3% INTERNATION 0.2% tech USA cloud 0.4 1957 186
124 24% $11 0.1 $ 53 $ 56 $ 3 5% ELV 0.2% ELEVANCE HEA 0.1% health USA insure 0.5 2002 128
127 46% $17 0.6 $ 49 $ 53 $ 5 10% MDT 0.4% MEDTRONIC PL 0.1% health Europe devices 0.5 1986 114
128 33% $13 0.45 $ 65 $ 53 $ (12) -19% ABNB 0.0% AIRBNB INC C 0.1% travel USA rent 0.8 2023 74
130 26% $10 0.14 $ 47 $ 51 $ 3 7% CI 0.3% THE CIGNA GR 0.1% health USA insure 0.6   101
138 57% $17 0.08 $ 41 $ 46 $ 5 13% MSCI 0.2% MSCI INC 0.1% finance USA indices 1.2 2018 46
139 33% $11 0.4 $ 42 $ 45 $ 3 8% ABT 0.4% ABBOTT LABO 0.1% health USA tech 0.3 1957 197
149 47% $14 0.15 $ 40 $ 43 $ 3 8% CB 0.1% CHUBB LIMIT 0.1% finance USA insure 0.4 2010 115
159 68% $15 0.5 $ 35 $ 37 $ 1 4% UBER 0.0% UBER TECHNO 0.1% travel USA ride 0.3 2023 154
174 46% $10 0.15 $ 30 $ 31 $ 1 5% HON 0.4% HONEYWELL IN 0.1% industry USA aero 0.3 1957 135
189 86% $11 0.006 $ 23 $ 23 $ 0 1% BKNG 0.0% BOOKING HOL 0.1% travel USA sw 0.2 2009 131
204 new $17 0.1 $ 17 $ 18 $ 1 3% MPC 0.0% MARATHON PE 0.0% energy USA oil 0.3 2011 59
215 new $13 0.1 $ 13 $ 13 $ (0) -1% DASH 0.0% DOORDASH IN 0.0% food USA deliver 0.3   53
214 new $10 0.1 $ 10 $ 13 $ 4 37% ARM 0.0% ARM HOLDING 0.0% tech Europe hw 0.1   139
217 new $12 0.1 $ 12 $ 12 $ 1 5% RTX 0.0% RTX CORPORA 0.0% industry USA aero 0.1 1957 164

You can see on the right that I prefer larger companies than the ones I’m selling.

All Stocks

See the attached PDF of my holdings, it’s colorful.

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