Last month, the S&P 500 Price index reached its previous high, making up for all the losses incurred in this bear market. That was my automatic trigger to sell some stocks and recoup dry powder cash. It turned out to be an unusually quick turn-around for a decline as steep as … [Read more...] about Three years of dry powder deployments
Complete List of Blog Posts
Buy businesses that are recession proof
In June this year, the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) announced that U.S. had entered an economic recession beginning in February. This recession came after the longest economic expansion in the US history—from June 2009 through February 2020—of about 128 months in … [Read more...] about Buy businesses that are recession proof
A look back at BREIT performance
Two years ago, I did a blog post on Blackstone’s real estate investment trust called BREIT. It had just opened its doors to retail individual investors like me. At the time, I was looking to increase my investments in commercial real estate (CRE) assets and thought that it was a … [Read more...] about A look back at BREIT performance
A guide for young investor
I am in my fifties and I have been saving and investing since I began working full time more than twenty-five years ago. I have been writing about my investing in these pages for about three years. If you are in your 20s or 30s, perhaps you just started earning enough to save … [Read more...] about A guide for young investor
Breaking out to a new high
On June 9th, as the stock market came within 5% of its previous record high, my portfolio reached a new all-time high. That day, my portfolio nudged just above its prior record high made on February 19. Credit for this outperformance (since the broader stock market has yet to … [Read more...] about Breaking out to a new high
Risk-return analysis of my hedged stock positions
I have written about my dry powder investing several times before. I am not going to rehash all that stuff here. [You can check out all my previous Dry Powder related posts here.] Instead, in this post I will just focus on performance of my hedged stock positions where I keep … [Read more...] about Risk-return analysis of my hedged stock positions
Are we in a short correction?
This stock market crash is looking more like a short-but-deep correction than a conventional bear market. Since its March 23rd trough, the market has been relentlessly going uphill. As of today, the S&P 500 is just about 12% off from its prior peak level. Not that I am … [Read more...] about Are we in a short correction?
How are my dividends holding up?
According to a recent WSJ article, eighty-three U.S. public companies have either canceled or suspended dividend payments so far this year. And another 142 companies have reduced their dividends. The journal went on to predict about 10% decrease in dividend payouts overall this … [Read more...] about How are my dividends holding up?
When’s the market bottoming?
Things have settled down a bit in the stock market. Since that nasty crash in March, stocks have mostly been on an upward trend. So, has the stock market already bottomed out? Or would there be another leg down from here? I can’t say. I admit it would be a useful thing to know … [Read more...] about When’s the market bottoming?
I closed my Apple bet
About a year ago, I had opened a hedged Apple (AAPL) position. The goal was to invest cash in an asset where I could benefit from the upside but also limit my downside risk. The cash I had invested was my dry powder cash—the kind of cash that I would need some day to buy stocks … [Read more...] about I closed my Apple bet