success

HOW TO LOSE YOUR SHIRT IN THE STOCK MARKET WITHOUT LOSING YOUR SHORTS TOO (PART ONE)!

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

It’s always a good idea to adjust your investment strategies over time. Those of you who have been following me closely know that I’ve had a real “knack” over the past 6 months for picking losing stocks. However, I refuse to let them go. And I continue buying into them because the buy signals keep getting stronger and stronger with every drop, and they became more and more attractive, with respect to all of the indicators I use to make investment decisions. And, as is usual, I refuse to sell on “buy” signals and frequently do the opposite.

As a result of all the buying I have done, I moved from being a low risk investor to an extremely high risk investor. This can happen from time-to-time and as long as I don’t remain a high risk investor for a long period of time, then that’s probably okay. I haven’t been too concerned because I’ve liked the patient approach I’d been using. And, frequently, losing stocks become leading stocks over time and stocks that continually get clobbered usually experience very strong reversals. So, I keep buying into them.

The low point for me so far this year was Monday (4 days ago – 14 March). I was 140% invested (yes – I was using margin) and down 30.34% for 2022 (and down 34% since September/October 2021). Ordinarily, as a low-risk investor I would rarely be anywhere close to 100% invested in the stock market (much less over-invested). But I was not willing to go down without a fight. And so far it has paid off handsomely. As of today, I am down 9.31% for the year and am 106% invested. So, that’s a huge, 21 percentage point gain in only 4 days. So, I’m very happy about this relatively speaking. It feels like victory even if it’s truly not in terms of me not earning any positive returns so far in 2022.

I haven’t been overly concerned with having a negative return for 2022 because all of the major stock market indexes are getting hammered this year so far (the recent lows being a 13% loss for the S&P 500 Index, a 20% loss for the NASDAQ, and a 14% loss for the Russell 2000). And eventually the market indexes will recover and so will most of the stocks I’m holding. I would be more concerned if I was experiencing substantial losses while the major market indexes were showing significant gains.

Now, a couple of years ago, I would have been “all in” several months ago and have been two or three times more negative using the strategies I had detailed in my “Invest Like a Pro in 10 Minutes a Day!” series of 4 books (https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books…/). And these might still be very good strategies to use for higher risk investors. But for low risk investors, they may not be. So, I’m very thankful that I modified my approaches quite a bit since then so that I have a chance to experience shallower losses (relatively speaking) and recover from these.

The approach I’m presently using to buy into falling stocks is the following:

  1. If the initial position of a stock I bought drops 10%, and the stock still looks attractive based on the indicators I use to make investment decisions, then I buy 10% more shares than I did the first time (e.g., if I bought 100 shares the first time, then the second time I buy 110 shares: 1.10 x 100 = 110).
  2. If the stock drops another 10%, and the stock still looks attractive based on the indicators I use to make investment decisions, then I buy 10% more shares than I did the second time (e.g., 121 shares: 1.10 x 110 = 121).
  3. I continue this process with every drop.

The approach I am presently using to sell the gains is the following:

  1. I determine what a reasonable gain might be for the stock from the current depressed levels it is trading at (20%? 25%?). If the stock gains that amount from the lowest price I paid, then I sell that set of shares (e.g., if the stock rebounds strongly after the second buy of 121 shares in the above example, then I will go ahead and sell the 121 shares if the gain is substantial enough).
  2. I determine what a reasonable gain might be for the stock from the current level it is trading at after selling the first lot of shares (10%? 15%?). If the stock gains that amount from the most recent sell price, then I sell that next set of shares (e.g., if the stock gains the amount I’m targeting beyond the price I sold the 121 shares for in the above example, then I will go ahead and sell the 100 shares I bought the first time).

So, I am currently using the above process throughout the rises and falls in the stock price no matter what the cycles might turn out to be. If the stock is dropping, I’m buying more. And if it is rising, I’m selling more. I continue the process until I get to the point where I am either “all in” (including margin – at least for now) or exit the position completely.

The above strategy has really worked out well so far. Using my previous strategy, I would have been a much more aggressive buyer on the drops which would have led to much deeper losses and a much longer recovery time.

I’m happy that I modified my investment strategy back in September/October 2021. And this something you always want to get into the practice of doing. Observe what happens and make adjustments to your investment strategies so that you can work towards improving your investment performance over time in accordance with your risk profile. I happen to presently be a low risk investor (although right now I am temporarily high risk) but many of you will probably be higher risk investors. So, your investment strategies will probably be a bit more aggressive than mine.

Another thing I am doing in 2022 to maximize my investment returns is performing tax loss harvesting strategies to offset my realized gains and minimize my tax burden. This essentially, involves selling some of your losses to offset your gains. You can read all about my tax loss harvesting strategies here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/maximize-stock-market-returns-by-performing-tax-loss-harvesting-to-minimize-tax-burden/

To the extent possible, what I plan to do in 2022 to maximize my investment returns will be to hold off on selling until the individual lots of the stocks I purchased passes the one year mark. I rarely do this because I tend to take substantial gains as they happen (and I might continue this practice if the gains are compelling enough). However, if I am successful in waiting a year before selling gains, then I’ll only have to pay 15% taxes on those gains instead of my typical 24% tax bracket. So, the tax incentive is huge for waiting on selling your gains if you have that kind of patience. Often, I don’t. But we’ll see what happens. I know I’ll have to do some additional selling soon since I’m presently 106% invested which is much too high for a low risk investor. But I’ll probably get there eventually.

You can be a very successful investor if you effectively use all of the tools and techniques available to maximize your investment returns. It’s been an interesting investing experiment I’ve been running so far for 2022. We’ll see how things go.

You can learn about all of my investing techniques via my “Invest Like a Pro in 10 Minutes a Day!” series of 4 books where you can learn the “end to end” process to investing and gain key investing insights and skills (https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books…/)

Also, you can read all about my stock market activities here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market-activities/

I wish you much success in creating a brighter financial future for yourself, your loved ones, and those who follow.

Happy investing everyone!

#finance #stocks #investing #stockmarket #success #taxes

HOW TO MAXIMIZE INVESTMENT RETURNS EVEN WHEN EXPERIENCING SEVERE LOSSES

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

It’s always a good idea to adjust your investment strategies over time. Those of you who have been following me closely know that I’ve had a real “knack” over the past couple of months for picking losing stocks. However, I refused to let them go. And I continued buying into them because the buy signals kept getting stronger and stronger with every drop, and they became more and more attractive, with respect to all of the indicators I use to make investment decisions. And, as is usual, I refuse to sell on “buy” signals and frequently do the opposite.

As a result of all the buying I did, I moved from being a low risk investor to a higher risk investor. That can happen from time-to-time and as long as I don’t remain a higher risk investor for a lengthy period of time, then that’s probably okay. I haven’t been too concerned because I’ve liked the patient approach I’d been using. And, frequently, losing stocks become leading stocks over time and stocks that continually get clobbered usually experience a very strong reversal. So, I kept buying into them.

A couple of years ago, I would have been “all in” several weeks ago and have been deeply negative for the year using the strategies I had detailed in my “Invest Like a Pro in 10 Minutes a Day!” series of 4 books (https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books…/). And these might still be very good strategies to use for higher risk investors. But for low risk investors, they may not be. So, I’m very thankful that I modified my approaches quite a bit since then and ended the year strongly positive.

The approach I’m presently using to buy into falling stocks is the following:

  1. If the initial position of a stock I bought drops 10%, and the stock still looks attractive based on the indicators I use to make investment decisions, then I buy 10% more shares than I did the first time (e.g., if I bought 100 shares the first time, then the second time I buy 110 shares: 1.10 x 100 = 110).
  2. If the stock drops another 10%, and the stock still looks attractive based on the indicators I use to make investment decisions, then I buy 10% more shares than I did the second time (e.g., 121 shares: 1.10 x 110 = 121).
  3. I continue this process with every drop.

The approach I am presently using to sell the gains is the following:

  1. I determine what a reasonable gain might be for the stock from the current depressed levels it is trading at (20%? 25%?). If the stock gains that amount from the lowest price I paid, then I sell that set of shares (e.g., if the stock rebounds strongly after the second buy of 121 shares in the above example, then I will go ahead and sell the 121 shares if the gain is substantial enough).
  2. I determine what a reasonable gain might be for the stock from the current level it is trading at after selling the first lot of shares (10%? 15%?). If the stock gains that amount from the most recent sell price, then I sell that next set of shares (e.g., if the stock gains the amount I’m targeting beyond the price I sold the 121 shares for in the above example, then I will go ahead and sell the 100 shares I bought the first time).

So, I am currently using the above process throughout the rises and falls in the stock price no matter what the cycles might turn out to be. If the stock is dropping, I’m buying more. And if it is rising, I’m selling more. I continue the process until I get to the point where I am either “all in” or exit the position completely.

The above strategy really worked out well during the slump I experienced towards the end of 2021. Using my previous strategy, I would have been a much more aggressive buyer on the drops which would have led to deep losses and a much longer recovery time. Back in early October, I had a 13% gain in the stock market which is an excellent gain for a low risk investor seeking to beat inflation (inflation was about 5% at that point in time). By early-to-mid December my gains had dropped to 1.5% for the year which was a pretty substantial drop – especially since it was only over a period of a few weeks. Fortunately, I was able to recover much of these losses by the end of the year with an 8.7% gain which still substantially beat inflation (inflation was 6.8% for the year). Much of the losses were probably due to investors selling losing stocks for tax loss harvesting purposes. As such, many of the stocks I’m presently holding are likely to start rising again in the new year. So, I should be positioned pretty well for at least the early weeks or months of 2022. You can read more about the above and all of my stock market activities here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market-activities/

I’m happy that I modified my investment strategy back in September/October. And this something you always want to get into the practice of doing. Observe what happens and make adjustments to your investment strategies so that you can work towards improving your investment performance over time in accordance with your risk profile. I happen to presently be a low risk investor but many of you will probably be higher risk investors. So, your investment strategies will probably be a bit more aggressive than mine.

Another thing I did in 2021 to maximize my investment returns was to perform tax loss harvesting strategies to minimize my tax burden. This essentially, involves selling some of your losses to offset your gains. This really helped me because about $7000 of my investment gains in 2021 put me into the 32% tax bracket. So, offsetting this effectively represented a 32% gain on those assets. You can read all about my tax loss harvesting strategies here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/maximize-stock-market-returns-by-performing-tax-loss-harvesting-to-minimize-tax-burden/

The last thing I did in 2021 to maximize my investment returns was to avoid selling any additional gains once I came to the realization that I was in the 32% income tax bracket. So, I decided to delay any selling decisions on gains until 2022 so that I could avoid paying 32% taxes on these gains. It’s always a good idea to track all of your income and stock market gains for the year so that you’ll know whether you are entering a higher tax bracket than usual. Because, if you do, you might be able to make some adjustments prior to the end of the year to minimize your tax burden and maximize your investment returns.

What I plan to do in 2022 to maximize my investment returns will be to hold off on selling until the individual lots of the stocks I purchased passes the one year mark. I rarely do this because I tend to take substantial gains as they happen (and I might continue this practice if the gains are compelling enough). However, if I am successful in waiting a year before selling gains, then I’ll only have to pay 15% taxes on those gains instead of my typical 24% (or in the case of 2021 32%). So, the tax incentive is huge for waiting on selling your gains if you have that kind of patience. Often, I don’t. But we’ll see what happens. I know I’ll have to do some selling towards the beginning of the year since I’m presently 85% invested which is a bit too high for a low risk investor.

AN INTERESTING TWIST ON EXECUTION:

I wrote the above post over the past week and decided to leave it as such since it potentially offered an educational benefit to my readers. In actuality, however, things did not happen as expected so I am going to write about that now to provide additional educational benefit to my readers.

I had planned to execute as stated above, but always make a point to check my math prior to executing. And just as I was about to sell some of my losses, I realized that I had forgotten to subtract my standard deduction of $12,550. Once I factored that in I realized I was actually several thousand dollars below the 32% income tax bracket threshold. So, to take advantage of that new realization, instead of selling some of my losses, I elected to sell more of my gains.

I can’t tell you how many times I have executed plans by mistake due to calculation errors, faulty data, and misinformation. So, always get into the practice of checking your math, confirming your data, and checking your facts before executing your plans. Otherwise, you may not realize the benefits you are anticipating and, in fact, might make things worse.

You can be a very successful investor if you effectively use all of the tools and techniques available to maximize your investment returns. And tax loss harvesting can be an effective strategy to use.

You can learn about all of my investing techniques via my “Invest Like a Pro in 10 Minutes a Day!” series of 4 books where you can learn the “end to end” process to investing and gain key investing insights and skills (https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books…/)

Also, you can read all about my stock market activities here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market-activities/

I wish you much success in creating a brighter financial future for yourself, your loved ones, and those who follow.

Happy investing everyone!

#finance #stocks #investing #stockmarket #success#taxes

MAXIMIZE STOCK MARKET RETURNS BY PERFORMING TAX LOSS HARVESTING TO MINIMIZE TAX BURDEN

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

One way to maximize your returns in the stock market is to perform tax loss harvesting strategies to minimize your tax burden. Essentially, this involves selling some of your losses to offset your gains.

Typically, I fall into the 24% income tax rate category. However, due to my capital gains to date in 2021, about $6000 of my income would fall into the 32% income tax rate category. As such, it makes sense for me to look for stocks that I haven’t sold yet to see if there are any losses I can use to offset this. If I can successfully do this, then this would effectively represent a 32% gain on those assets which would be advantageous for me.

If you are the type of investor who, like me, typically adds to positions over time when they drop in price, then you will want to ensure your standard taxable investment accounts are set up to track your cost basis using “First In First Out” (this is usually the default setting). If you are more of a momentum type investor who typically adds to positions over time when they increase in price, then you will want to ensure your taxable investment accounts are set up to track your cost basis using “Last In First Out.” Note: The tax loss harvesting strategy does not apply to taxable accounts such as traditional IRAs, 401Ks, and such since they are always taxed based on your income bracket at the time any funds are withdrawn. So, this strategy can only be used for taxable investment accounts outside of traditional IRAs, 401Ks, etc.

To effectively use the tax loss harvesting strategy, you must be sure not to invoke the “wash sale” rule which occurs when a security is sold for a loss and, within 30 days before or after this sale, a “substantially identical” stock or security is bought. The reason you want to steer clear of this is because a “wash sale” will provide no tax benefit until after the point in which you exit your position entirely.

Many investment brokers track each of the lots you buy and sell for each of the stock positions you hold. This can be a very handy tool for considering which financial assets to sell to gain the benefits of tax loss harvesting. For example, Fidelity (which is the online broker I use) tracks each of the lots I buy and sell (see Figure 1 below for an example).

Figure 1: Stock Lots Bought and Sold

The first thing to check to ensure you don’t invoke the “wash sale” rule is the most recent date you purchased shares. As you can see in Figure 1, 11/22/2021 was the last time I purchased shares of stock XYZ (and if you have multiple accounts you need to check them all since the “wash sale” rule applies across investment accounts whether taxable accounts or not including Roth accounts). So, to ensure that I don’t invoke the “wash sale” rule I need to wait until 30 days have passed before selling the stock. So, to be safe, I will need to wait until 12/23/2021 before selling this stock.

Since I am trying to offset about $6000 of the gains I’ve had over the past year which would fall into the 32% income tax bracket, I would sell about 400 shares of stock XYZ if Figure 1 represents my losses at that time. Because, my taxable investment account is set up to track my cost basis using the default of “First In First Out” I would start from the bottom of Figure 1 and work my way up from there to reflect what losses I could use to offset my gains. So, starting from the bottom and going up if I sold 400 shares (160+140+100) at that time, then I would have $6092.45 ($5020.74+$625.21+$446.50) of capital losses I could use to offset my capital gains. And if I wanted to be much more precise about the $6000 figure, I could sell a couple of shares less. The other nice thing I can do with this strategy is wait to sell those lots in Figure 1 that I have gains on until after a year has passed. Because then instead of paying 24% tax on those gains, I’ll only have to pay 15%. So, this strategy can allow you to both earn a substantial “return” on your losses and and minimize the taxes on your actual gains.

Now, if you accidentally had your investment account set-up to track cost basis using “Last In First Out” then you would probably have to sell all of your shares to realize the tax benefit you’re seeking. However, the tax loss offset would be much less since you would first be selling all of the shares that had gains or were less negative in nature. So, it’s important to make sure you set up your taxable investment accounts to track cost basis using “First In First Out” unless you tend to be more of a momentum type investor.

For people who do tend to be momentum type investors who typically add to positions over time when they increase in price and have their taxable investment accounts set up to track cost basis using “Last In First Out,” then you would start from the top and move down since the newest shares would be sold first. And you would try to hold your gains until after a year has passed so that you’ll only have to pay long term capital gains taxes (typically 15% or 20% depending on your income tax bracket) instead of the short term capital gains taxes associated with your income tax bracket.

So, the above pretty much sums up how to maximize your investment returns by using tax loss harvesting strategies to minimize your tax burden. The last thing you will want to do, however, is to ensure the “wash sale” rule is not invoked going forward by refraining from buying the same stock(s) within 30 days after selling it for a loss. If you do, then the “wash sale” will be invoked again and you will have realized no tax benefit from selling your losses. So, always be mindful of this.

By using the above strategy, I will avoid having to pay about $1920 on my tax return for 2021 (0.32*$6000 =$1920). So, using this strategy can really help.

You can be a very successful investor if you effectively use all of the tools and techniques available to maximize your investment returns. And tax loss harvesting can be an effective strategy to use.

You can learn about all of my investing techniques via my “Invest Like a Pro in 10 Minutes a Day!” series of 4 books where you can learn the “end to end” process to investing and gain key investing insights and skills (https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books…/)

Also, you can read all about my stock market activities here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market-activities/

I wish you much success in creating a brighter financial future for yourself, your loved ones, and those who follow.

Happy investing everyone!

#finance #stocks #investing #stockmarket #success#taxes

EARN ABOVE AVERAGE GAINS EVEN AS A LOW RISK INVESTOR

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

Some people have been asking why I’ve been doing so much selling in the stock market lately when there is a strong potential for more gains to come. The reason is I’m taking a lower risk approach this year so as to build on, but not jeopardize, the record gains I had last year (a 164% gain!).

Right now my overall portfolio has earned a little over 9% in only 5 months. And although this lags some of the other major market indexes right now, my goal for the entire year was primarily my end-of-2021 projection for inflation (2.5%). My stretch goal for the entire year was two times that projection (5%). So, I have exceeded both of these by a large margin in just 5 months. So, I certainly don’t want to risk those gains.

As a low risk investor, I am primarily targeting earning at least the realized headline inflation by the end of the year (the Federal Reserve targets core inflation which strips out food and energy but I don’t think that is very realistic – so, I use the headline inflation number as my end-of-year target). Thus, the realized headline inflation would have to end the year above 9% for me to miss my expected target based on the 9%+ I’ve earned to date. And I don’t see that happening.

A secondary target I like to use as a low risk investor is the end-of-year gain of the S&P 500 (SPX) divided by 5. So, if the SPX earns 30% for the year, I would expect to earn about 6%. Likewise, if the SPX loses 30% for the year, I would expect to lose about 6%. Thus, the SPX would have to end the year above 45% for me to miss my expected target based on the 9%+ I’ve earned to date. And I also don’t see that happening.

As of yesterday:

1) the realized headline inflation was 3.5%.

2) the S&P 500 has gained 10.6% this year so far. So, at this point in the year, I would expect a gain of about 2.1%.

So, I have far exceeded both my primary and secondary targets above which means looking for stocks to sell probably makes a lot of sense for me right now.

Since I have far exceeded my annual targets for this year, I am employing a new strategy which involves selling every gain – even if that involves selling partial shares of stocks I own (i.e ., just those shares which have earned gains – those which haven’t I generally continue holding). The only exceptions to this are stocks I think still have potential over the long term given the increased probability of inflation, overheating of the economy, and interest rate increases (e.g., energy, utilities, gold, shorting of bond market, etc.). The reason for this is that investors are not going to wait for the Fed to decide whether or not they want to start addressing these issues (they’ve called much of this transitory meaning they believe these effects will fade over time). Investors are likely to start aggressively positioning themselves as soon as the economic data and other indicators signal these kinds of pressures.   

Hopefully the above helps to give you some insight into how I am performing my investments this year. Most people need to take much higher risk than me so you probably wouldn’t want to use the approach I’m using. But some might.

You’ll be a very successful investor if you observe and learn from what happens and make adjustments to your investing strategies accordingly over time. So, investing strategies can change from time to time. And they should. Especially, when your risk category changes.

You can learn about all of my investing techniques via my “Invest Like a Pro in 10 Minutes a Day!” series of 4 books where you can learn the “end to end” process to investing and gain key investing insights and skills (https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books…/).

Also, you can read all about my stock market activities here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market-activities/

I wish you much success in creating a brighter financial future for yourself, your loved ones, and those who follow.

Happy investing everyone!

#finance #stocks #investing #stockmarket #success

HAPPINESS/SUCCESS TIP: IF YOU WANT A BRIGHTER FUTURE, THEN INVEST IN IT… AND THIS IS ABOUT SO MUCH MORE THAN JUST MONEY

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

In order to achieve longstanding happiness and success in life and to create the brighter future and the life you really, really want, you must be willing to make short-term sacrifices in order to create your most desired longer-term future – and anything and everything that might include for you (and others in your life). And this is about so much more than just money.

Do you want to live a long and healthy life so you can spend more quality time with those you love and appreciate, create memorable experiences, and live a life full of freedom, peace, and independence for the remaining years and decades of your life? Well, then you probably need to mindfully invest in yourself by engaging in fitness activities and making healthy lifestyle choices. Sure, it might seem a bit painful and time consuming right now, but like most investments, it will really pay off over the longer term.

Do you have a dream that you really want to achieve or a cause where you really want to make a difference? Well, then you probably need to mindfully invest by performing the research, gaining the skills, and defining and taking the steps needed to achieve that. Sure, it might seem a bit painful right now, in terms of all the time and effort you might have to put in but, again, like most investments, it will really pay off in the long run.

Are there people in your life you would like to strengthen your relationships with or have you a strong desire to create a future relationship with a special someone? Well, then you probably need to mindfully invest by creating the balance you need in life so that you can mindfully participate in those relationships and take steps towards creating new relationship(s). Sure, things might seem a bit distant and awkward right now, but if you take regular, consistent steps to participate more in the relationships which matter most to you and position yourself for creating new relationships then, again, like most investments, it can really pay off over the longer term.

Do you want to achieve a sense of financial freedom in your life? Well, then you probably need to mindfully invest by getting in the practice of automatically saving 20% of everything you earn, developing and living with a sense of financial discipline, and learning how to invest and manage your money. Sure, you might not be able to live that exciting, lavish lifestyle filled with luster, experiences, and adventure right now but, again, like most investments, it will really pay off over the long run.

Are there any life experiences you really want for yourself? Well, then you probably need to mindfully invest by defining and taking steps to achieve that. Sure, it might seem a bit painful right now, in terms of all the time and effort you might have to put in but, again, like most investments, it will really pay off over the longer term.

And the above are just five broad categories of investment kinds of examples. There are several others we could come up with.

Lastly, don’t forget about the cross effects. For example, if you live an unhealthy lifestyle, do you suppose that could affect your finances, your relationships in terms of your abilities to inspire and actively participate, and the energy you have available to put towards the dreams you desire to achieve, the life experiences you would like to have, or the causes you would like to make a difference in? You better believe it might.

So, invest in yourself and invest in your future. And start today. Get in the practice of making all of the small sacrifices needed today, tomorrow, and all along the way so that you can achieve the brighter future you really, really want.

This and other happiness and self-improvement related tips are provided throughout my self-help oriented books: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books…/

#selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness #mindfulness #peace #investment #love #relationships

HAPPINESS/SUCCESS TIP: ALWAYS BE MINDFUL OF WHAT YOU EXPEND YOUR TIME AND ENERGY ON

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

Here’s a Happiness/Success Tip which might be helpful to some of you out there: always being mindful of how you expend your time and energy. Focus on filling more of your life with that which makes you happy and inspires and fulfills you instead of focusing so much on that which does not. Because life isn’t short. We make it short by wasting time and energy.

So many people seem to get lost from time to time and forget the true purpose of their life is to be happy – and anything and everything that includes – for each and every one of them.

So, keep doing anything that makes you happy. And be mindful of anything which does not.

A lot of people seem to forget the latter – especially when they get consumed by negativity, bitterness, politics, conspiracy theories, and such. So, I wanted to provide a “friendly reminder” in case it might be helpful to some of you out there. Because your life is precious. And you’ll be a lot happier if you treat it that way.

#selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness #mindfulness

TWO BIG INVESTMENT CONCERNS RIGHT NOW: RISING BOND RATES AND RISING INFLATION

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

One of my two biggest concerns in the stock market over the near-term (and beyond) involve the rapidly rising yields in the bond market (and declining bond prices since bond prices move opposite yields) resulting in substantial losses in what are traditionally “safe haven” low-risk investments. The days of using bonds and bond ETFs as “save havens” might be over. I wrote about all of that here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/storm-clouds-on-the-horizon-the-bond-markets-and-the-low-risk-safe-haven-facade/

The second big concern for me is the risk of a policy mistake by the Fed regarding inflation. The Fed might be using an outdated “play book” in that they plan to allow inflation to run “hot” and consider any near-term inflation to be temporary and transitory in nature (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-attempts-to-get-ahead-of-inflation-by-talking-down-transitory-effects-172650392.html). In fact, two inflationary components which are typically ignored by the Fed when assessing inflationary pressure (food and fuel costs) are rising substantially (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/high-food-prices-struggling-americans-211552448.html and https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gas-prices-spike-us-inflation-142654810.html)

What the Fed seems to be underappreciating is that this monetary policy body has historically been late in addressing inflation which can result in runaway inflation. Because, historically, once inflation takes hold, it becomes very difficult to get under control. So, my primary concerns on the inflationary front are the Fed’s underappreciation and downplaying of inflationary indicators and overconfidence in their tools and abilities to fight this once it takes hold.

You can learn about all of my investing techniques via my “Invest Like a Pro in 10 Minutes a Day!” series of 4 books where you can learn the “end to end” process to investing and gain key investing insights and skills (https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books…/).

Also, you can read all about my stock market activities here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market-activities/

I wish you much success in creating a brighter financial future for yourself, your loved ones, and those who follow.

Stay safe out there.

#finance #stocks #investing #stockmarket #success

HAPPINESS/SUCCESS TIP: FIND, FOLLOW, AND FOCUS INTENTLY ON YOUR BURNING WHY

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

One of the keys to motivating yourself (and others) and making consistent and continual progress involves discovering what your burning WHY is and keeping it in clear focus over the weeks, months, years, and decades that follow – whether towards your life overall, for a specific goal or accomplishment, or some success you desire to achieve.

So, some of you might find, focus on, and follow a big, burning WHY in terms of your life overall for the long term if that creates enough motivation for you. Alternatively, you might find, focus on, and follow smaller, burning WHYs for right now in order to create motivation for each of your shorter term goals and such. Or you might use a combination of these approaches.

For example, in my own life, having the peace and freedom to do whatever I want, whenever I want, has been my life overall big, burning WHY for many years now and was enough to drive me to create and embody the financial and investing discipline and balance I needed to achieve that success. Some other person might have a smaller, burning WHY right now, which might involve spending a month in Paris a year from now. So, that smaller, burning WHY for the near term might motivate the individual to do whatever research, take the actions, and earn the money needed to achieve this goal. Someone else might have a smaller, burning WHY right now, in going hiking in the Rocky Mountains. So, that smaller, burning WHY for the near term might motivate this individual to engage in more fitness activities, eat healthier, and embrace healthier habits.

Visualization approaches can also be used to personify your big or small burning WHYs to motivate progress such as the following:

(1) Positive Visualization Approach. This is primarily a positive oriented motivational approach personifying your WHY(s). This essentially involves visualizing the person you greatly aspire to become, the ideal life you would greatly desire to live, or the highest success you greatly desire to achieve and collecting reminders of these – whether reflective of your life overall or your shorter term goals and such. By developing a positive means in which to visualize success and proceeding to visualize, or remind yourself of, this success on a regular basis, progress can be made towards achieving this success.

(2) Negative Visualization Approach. This is primarily a fear oriented motivational approach personifying your WHY(s) from the opposite end of the spectrum. This essentially involves visualizing the person you would most not like to become, the life that you would most not like to live, or the failures and other experiences you would most not like to have and collecting reminders of these – whether reflective of your life overall or your shorter term goals and such. For example, images of a homeless person suffering the effects of a prolonged addiction problem or a character in a movie who played such a role might serve this purpose. Another approach might be collecting reminders of those you love and appreciate who might be greatly affected by your nonsuccess. By developing a negative means in which to provide reminders of your life fears and the negative implications and consequences of nonsuccess, these can help to provide the strength and the motivation to resist or avoid these. And many studies have shown that pain can serve as a powerful motivational force since human beings tend to be “wired” towards avoiding pain/suffering and being risk averse.

(3)  Combined Positive/Negative Visualization Approach. This approach essentially involves two contrasting visualizations: One which represents the positive aspects (item 1 above) and another which represents the negative aspects (item 2 above).

Each of these approaches can help motivate success and improve progress. And the key to this progress and success hinges on finding, following, and focusing on your burning WHY(s) over the weeks, months, years, and decades to follow – whether in life overall, for a specific goal or accomplishment, or some success you desire to achieve. So, do this for yourself (and others) if you can.

This and other happiness and self-improvement related tips are provided throughout my self-help oriented books: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and-life-coaching-services/ 

#selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness #mindfulness

DON’T LISTEN TO INVESTMENT EXPERTS… BE A MONKEY INSTEAD

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

Always be a bit cautious when “experts” tout their past successes in making stock picks. I find it a bit humorous when individuals and companies advertise their winning stock picks in retrospect saying “we recommended these” (with the implication, of course, that we know how to pick winning stocks so you should listen to us for future stock picks). In this particular post, 3 highly successful stocks are highlighted in hindsight (https://www.fool.com/ext-content/3-stocks-for-the-economy-of-the-future/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=contentmarketing&utm_campaign=ecomsa-dig-boom&aid=9502&paid=9502&waid=9502&source=esafbwdg0217760&psource=esafbwdg0217760&wsource=esafbwdg0217760&utm_content=%7B%7Bad.name%7D%7D&exitpop=false&autoplay=false&fbclid=IwAR3ghhPYiarn5bN-yo1Yhi5FrzJXQJ7e44-qeRc_wS2gsiJUH2xTzQVcjG8&testId=a-sa-dig-econ&cellId=0&campaign=sa-digital-economy).

What they don’t tell you is that they’ve recommended thousands of companies over that time frame – many of which have gone bankrupt or have substantially underperformed. And, just by chance alone, when you have recommended thousands of company stocks over the years, being able to find 3 which have highly outperformed in that set, in hindsight, is no big accomplishment and takes no talent at all. Monkeys tossing darts at a dartboard of various stock names are likely to do as well by chance alone (or perhaps even better since they have no preconceived notions).

You can learn about all of my investing techniques via my “Invest Like a Pro in 10 Minutes a Day!” series of 4 books where you can learn the “end to end” process to investing and gain key investing insights and skills (https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books…/).

Also, you can read all about my stock market activities here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market-activities/

I wish you much success in creating a brighter financial future for yourself, your loved ones, and those who follow!

#finance #stocks #investing #stockmarket #success

MY BLUNDER AS AN INVESTMENT “EXPERT”

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

I was such an excellent “expert” investor in the 1990s, earned so much money in the stock market during that decade, and was so confident in my investing “skills” that in 1999-2000 I came up with a great idea. I took out a loan against my 401k, took a cash advance against one of my credit cards, and put all of that into the stock market because, well, “everything was going up,” you know. And what could possibly go wrong? Well, I earned about a -50% gain by the end of the dot com bubble.

Yeah. I was so good that I got back about half and still had to pay back the loans and cash advances. Thank goodness I didn’t have a margin account back then.

So, when you see me making jokes about “expert” investors these days – well, just know that I was one of those myself back in the 1990s during my early days as an investor. And my “retire in my 30s buy everything because everything is going up” plan didn’t quite work out the way I expected back then. A favorite movie line by a mangled survivor from a horror movie (one of the Saw movies I believe) comes to mind who willingly submitted to being tied up: “Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time…”

In hindsight, though, all of this was a valuable lesson. Don’t be overconfident. Don’t be an emotional investor. Curb your enthusiasm. And always come up with investment rules and plans “up front,” make adjustments to them over time, and remember to stick with them – especially during periods of chaos and volatility.

You’re welcome! 🙂

You can learn about all of my investing techniques via my “Invest Like a Pro in 10 Minutes a Day!” series of 4 books where you can learn the “end to end” process to investing and gain key investing insights and skills (https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books…/).

Also, you can read all about my stock market activities here: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/stock-market-activities/

I wish you much success in creating a brighter financial future for yourself, your loved ones, and those who follow!

#finance #stocks #investing #stockmarket #success