I generally don’t have much interest in Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). They are often overpriced, overhyped, and not meant for long-term investors. In last couple of years, IPOs have seen a resurgence along with Direct Listings and SPACs. These IPOs, DLs, and SPACs are … [Read more...] about Dipping my toe into this SPAC craze
MyPortfolio
How my stocks did in 2020?
After taking a short hiatus in January, I am back. Happy belated new year, everyone! So this month I start off with end-of-year update of my stock holdings. In my mid-year update post (Breaking out to a new high) in July last year, I pointed out that my portfolio had … [Read more...] about How my stocks did in 2020?
Dividends, six months later
It has been more than six months since the pandemic started affecting the global economy. Many dividend paying businesses were impacted too. In response, some stopped or cut dividends. But not many businesses that I own have gone that route. I wrote a blog post in May this year … [Read more...] about Dividends, six months later
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
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?
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
Seeking wisdom in trying times
In my last post, I wrote that I have been buying stocks. Well, since then I continued buying stocks as the market dropped even further. At the time, I reported I had invested 60% of my dry powder cash. Today, I am 70% deployed. As the stock market fell 35% below its peak, I … [Read more...] about Seeking wisdom in trying times
Be greedy
Two weeks ago, I wrote that I have bought (or sold) very little in my stock portfolio in past twelve months. But that changed rather quickly in last two weeks. The stock market had been worried about the COVID-19 pandemic for a few weeks. But then on February 27, it dropped 10% … [Read more...] about Be greedy
My portfolio is getting top-heavy
I break down my stock holdings into three distinct buckets: long-only stocks, long-only stock index funds, and long-short stocks and options (for income primarily). From these, my long stock holdings are by far the largest bucket as you can see in the following pie chart—from a … [Read more...] about My portfolio is getting top-heavy