Do some people buy individual stocks plus their index funds?

[ramy6et]

@rhandi And you make money I assume, if you buy and hold for at least 3-5 years, right?

 

[rhandi]

@ramy6et Money yes, beating the top ETF's no but wasn't really my goal. My goal is to enjoy investing and make a reasonable profit.

 

[mothcorrupteth]

@ramy6et I like knowing what I own, I only buy individual equities. I own about 20 names, roughly 5% each. Just added Southwest Airlines, it's trading lower then it was during the pandemic. When I add a speculation name like this I'm hoping to make 20-2/% on the trade in next 6-8 months and exit.

 

[lessgritma]

@mothcorrupteth Is your portfolio beating the sp500?

 

[newreborn]

@ramy6et I started buying dividend stocks in 1975 through various Dividend Reinvestment Programs. P&G, GE, J&J, Exxon, Eli Lilly, John Deere and a few others. I think most were $5 or $10 a month. This is back when they had cards you sent in every month (I recall sending cash in the mail since I didn't have a checking account until 1979). I bought them monthly until I retired from the Navy in 2012 and I've never sold a single share of those stocks.

 

[ramy6et]

@newreborn Cool, I too want to be able to retire like a Protestant, except without the blue eyes and freckles.

 

[resjudicata]

@ramy6et Yeah something that has worked EXTREMELY well for me is that I buy index funds 90% of the time. But occasionally there's a giant drop in a sector, and when I see that I buy several stocks across that sector.

In 2008 I bought LVS, and MGM.

In march 2020 I bought several cruise line stocks and a couple airlines.

In November 2022 I bought tesla, rdfn, zillow, and facebook.

They are mostly up several multiples of what I bought them at. The problem is knowing when to sell them.... so I haven't

 

[lisedgmr]

@ramy6et The index essentially represents an average score. I tend to reallocate a portion of my assets to the index whenever I'm between new investment ideas. It's a safe choice, especially when unsure of any new opportunities that might yield better long-term returns.

I like your "lucky 7"approach. A smaller portfolio, like seven stocks, is easier for most to follow and manage. It is critical to track these particular businesses and see how they perform in the market. It would make you sleep well when market has any changes.

 

[ramy6et]

@lisedgmr Do you think it is reasonable to do the "lucky 7" plus the index fund?

 

[mikewujcik]

@ramy6et very common. you will often see ppl buy the s&p and parts of it for direct investment in the firm. same with nasdaq or other mutual funds.

 

[resjudicata]

@ramy6et i buy stocks with dividends. that way, the dummies who work for a living work for me.

no index funds.

 

[ramy6et]

@resjudicata That strategy may work for you if you are really good at picking stocks and can afford the risk, I think.

 

[resjudicata]

@ramy6et Yeah, my risk is really low - for instance, American Airlines is at 13 bucks a share, so I have a pile of that, Amazon's expensive so I have a smaller pile of that, etc.

I just pick big companies that seem clearly stable - like Amazon, simple stuff, not requiring a lot of analysis - and I put in only as much as I can afford to lose. I claim no genius, just cross my fingers and hope I get it right.

Having Etrade stop charging fees was the big push for me, it's essentially free money.

 

[ramy6et]

@resjudicata Some banks like Wells Fargo, if you have an account with them you can open up a self trade account with no fees or account maintenance fees or trade fees. They also offer fractional shares, where you can now buy as little as $10 dollars worth of stock of the big names like Microsoft, McDonald's, Google, Apple, and Amazon so you don't have to buy the entire piece.

 

[resjudicata]

@ramy6et luckily i'm at the point where i don't need fractionals. i think all the trade platforms are free, and then they offer upsells.

 

[bluemind84]

@ramy6et Never invest all your money in hand-picked stocks.

It's much better to invest in diversified ETFs that perform well in the long term.

For example in SPY and QQQ, and you also need to diversify in other asset classes.

 

[pure_fun_101]

@ramy6et I'm no pro trader, so I buy individual stocks:

1. In small amounts if I think they'll blow up eventually,
2. In larger amounts if they pay a great dividend and are a solid company that isn't going anywhere.

The moonshot companies like Tesla have far outweighed my losses on other companies because I have limited my downside by only putting in chump change amounts of money. For example, a $1,600 TSLA buy turned into $20k, yet my 10 other losers only lost me $2k total.

I'm not just dumping thousands into random stocks because I'm hopeful. It's all intentional.

I dump consistent money into index funds.

 

[hdickson]

@ramy6et I have about a dozen individual stocks that I purchase each month. I also have an ira index fund.

 

[lourdes_anita]

@ramy6et Yep. I bought ASX:RHC at 4.20 and sold at 5.20.
I was soooo clever.

It went to like $84.

 

[xiaoxiao]

@ramy6et Yes. I have all my stock picks in my Robinhood account. Then I have a few index funds on the side through my bank. And then my 401k is a target fund.