Peek Into My Portfolio: Q3

This issue of Peek Into My Portfolio is a summary of my financial situation for the 2021 Q3. If there is something you want to know feel free to ask in the comments on any of my socials.

Sticking to a budget is still a challenge. Sticking to a budget is hard. I continue to modify and change it and add things. It's never the same thing for over a month it seems like. Me and overspending goes hand-in-hand. Car hack only applies if the type of interest accrual is cheaper, but can use balance transfers to chunk the payments into 0% interest payments. Gas has become an even bigger expense, in July I spent around $216.24 (can't see two receipts), with 6 visits. I couldn't read most of the receipts for the total of gallons. In August $307.29 and 71.403 gallons in 8 visits. Finishing with Sept, $228.24 / 52.41 gallons in 6 visits. Q1 I said the markets were too volatile and expensive and Q2 I was focused on increasing my shares in my top holdings and aggressively dismantling the debt. I currently have done that, and I will say that both of those have carried into Q3. The markets have been correcting subtly or maybe not so subtly, but at the same time, a few stock picks hitting 52-week highs.

I’m back on my credit kick, I applied for a signature loan for debt consolidation from my newest credit union. I was denied and offered a counter, to refinance my car and use "cash payout" to payoff cards. I find it interesting they would make a loan for my current value of the car and create a loan I could use to pay off the cards. I also applied to Chase (JPM), JPM probably denied me due to hoarding cash and not making loans. I applied for a credit card, according to news, they’re hoarding cash and not making loans in anticipation of something. It took to the end of the quarter to get a possible hint of the "something". CEO Jamie Dimon, did an interview where he said he was preparing for a possible government debt default to the tune of $100 million (well that's how much he recalled spending the last prep). In mid-July, I woke up to a falling market, but a few orders had been filled. I placed more buy orders and brought fractional shares of my largest holding, about 10 days later, stocks were on an upward trend today. I placed a few orders. If the market keeps responding to my actions, I'm gonna walk into the Fed and let Powell know I'm the Chair now. Wells Fargo is closing all credit lines. I think they should collapse and let the other banks, being cannibalistic, will rip them apart. Assuming JPM takes its head. All that being said, this can be a precursor for more cuts from other banks. The main issue I run into when applying for credit is the debt-to-income ratio. I don't understand why the debt-to-income ratio matters when we're dealing with a debt consolidation loan. We know the debt is high or uneasy for debt issuers, which is the point of the consolidation. My continued goal of expanding my credit capacities, shows that as the amount increases so does the interest rate, no matter the customer's excellent history, credit score, and early payoff record. NFCU pulled through and approved me with an unnecessary high rate of 17.35%. In comparison, a few years ago when I applied for a $10k loan the interest was 15%, and I was making less and had less access to credit. I also found SoFi, and applied for a $15k loan. They had better rates than NFCU, and no one beats NFCU so I had to jump on it.

Robinhood will be having its IPO soon, and placed my order. I was hoping people shorted the stock and I could enter at a reasonable price. I'm leaning towards paying off my car and saving the rest for a big goal later this year, but I decided not to pay off the car yet. Most of my debt should be (outside of this loan) 0% interest. The goal is to get the budget in order so that way I only have to use the cards with the lowest interest for gas and I can use cash for the rest of my expenses. Applying and approval process for a SoFi loan was an easy experience and soon I'll find out what the repayment side is like. The company has also offered me a credit card with benefits of helping pay down their loan faster, so knowing me, I love a good credit card offer and I might apply. I'm also growing my position in the stock.

I'm beginning to believe credit is the cause of inflation. The Bond King aka Jeffrey Gundlach, has me thinking the government is trying to force businesses to raise wages by paying people not to work. Which is an interesting way to say: wage inflation. In regard to consumer price increases, people will just have to refuse to pay higher prices, unless the government can quickly match the increase.

I “cluster” budgeted my expenses: health, credit, and car related debts are separated. And the new plan is to use a credit card to represent each cluster. Speaking of healthcare, my doc has been on medical leave for over a year, they replaced her with an app. So, I'll try this healthcare through apps and video chats, I actually liked my doctor. The ONLY one out of many over the years.

Portfolio/ Investments

I really want to get more into CARV, but it seems every couple weeks something's messing up the numbers, the same thing goes for BYFC. So, I'll trade them more appropriately, because I still want to own it. A lot of them. Couldn't tell CARecall and government infrastructure bill were ever a possibility of happening. There hasn't been much movement in the bonds. I follow a California bond index fund. Volume dropped drastically from May to June, about the same in July (Maybe, I did use the wrong screenshot in the post), then went back up in August. I'm looking to find trades/ holds in commodities and started a position in copper. It's a play off of the EV movement and infrastructure bill going through the D.C. process. In addition, inflation will be expected to drive up prices.

AAL is suffering, not only in stock price but also on operations. I wonder what they did with their bailout, they had the unions to deal with and the Boeing crisis. Air travel is a pain. EMQQ is sinking, top holdings are Chinese companies, and the markets are uneasy with the China government tech crackdown. Completely exited from Vodafone.

Top 10 holding/ reasons & predictions

Q2 Tickers: AXP, SPGM, MRK, AGM, DIS, XLU, CMF, SBUX, TOLZ, USB, totaling $5,432.57.
  Current: AXP, SPGM, MRK, AGM, DIS, XLU, CMF, BAM, SBUX, UL, totaling $5,576.89

Top performing

Last quarter tickers (Q2): DIS, AXP, DPSGY.

Current: AXP, DIS, & MSFT

I learned that DPSGY does not allow fraction shares on Robinhood, so that's probably a reason it's not growing in my portfolio, but this is a company I want more of so I will accommodate for that.

Worst performing

Q2 Tickers: AAL, ARR, SFTBY, GOLD, T, PNGAY, OGE

Current Tickers: AAL, PNGAY, SFTBY, ARR, GOLD, HOOD, SCCO

5/7 are repeat offenders, Robinhood and copper replaced OGE and AT&T. Which might change again, recently, AT&T CEO told CNBC he wasn't happy with the company's brand image. At the moment I still have no desire to sell these positions for a loss, I will consider selling for break-even or slight profit. SoftBank apparently doesn't want to do stock buybacks, which I wouldn't expect them to want their stock, yet due to having so many companies going public (or failing to). Also, their biggest investments are affected by the China crackdown. Learned that Barrick Gold operates in Africa, so now I need to keep an eye on those interactions. The CEO doesn't see growth in production, which explains the slump my position is in. The app is saying the stock is a buy, but I'll hold off on any of that. The CEO got on TV and said not to expect production growth, and he talked about the dividend with somewhat of a negative tone. The only reason I have a position in this stock is because I wanted something considered safe and benefits from inflation, so hopefully the company can sustain the dividend. So many big name finance experts hold a position in GOLD, so now it's also a time to watch them.

WELL-TRI

Flexibility & Mobility:

September is the first month of six, this experiment will end in 6 months due to the agreement minimum at Forward. When considering I immediately thought flexibility and mobility, when this idea was beginning to form. I quickly found StretchU, I thought they also did chiro. My first session was on the 14th, I Liked the experience. The sessions = 20 mins. I signed up for the membership which come with 8 sess/month. The agreement with StretchU is a minimum of 2 months. I think going with the monthly subscriptions for the first couple health activities are a great way to start off just to get the ball rolling and then I can hurry up and find month-to-month or per session along the way to fill in or to replace them when the subscriptions run their course.

IBS:
 My gut has become the bane of my existence, possibly due to my diet. A couple years ago my doctor told me she wanted me to change up my diet to see if that was the cause of my abdomen pains and chronic issues. The experts believe it to be irritable bowel syndrome. As a functional GI disorder, IBS is caused by disruptions in the way your brain and gut interact with one another. It’s often a chronic (long-term) GI disorder that primarily develops before age 50. It’s estimated that between 7 and 21 percent Trusted Source of people have IBS. Women are twice as likely to have this condition compared to men. IBS affects between 25 and 45 million people in the United States. About 2 in 3 IBS sufferers are female. About 1 in 3 IBS sufferers are male. IBS affects people of all ages, even children. Nearly 2,000 patients with IBS reported in a survey by IFFGD that diagnosis of their IBS was typically made 6.6 years after the symptoms began. However, research Trusted Source continues to reveal that IBS isn’t one single disease but is likely connected to other underlying medical issues. As such, IBS comes in multiple forms. These include IBS-C, IBS-D, and IBS-M/IBS-A. Sometimes IBS may develop as a result of an intestinal infection or diverticulitis, too.
 

IBS-C: IBS with constipation, or IBS-C, is one of the more common types. With this type of IBS, you’ll experience fewer bowel movements overall, and you may sometimes strain to go when you do have them. IBS-C can also cause abdominal pain that accompanies gas and bloating.
 IBS-D: is also known as IBS with diarrhea. This type of IBS causes the opposite issues with IBS-C. If you have IBS-D, you may also feel abdominal pain along with more frequent urges to go. Excessive gas is also common.
 IBS-M: Some people have another type called IBS with mixed bowel habits, or IBS-M. IBS-M is also sometimes called IBS with alternating constipation and diarrhea (IBS-A).
 
 Sometimes, the development of IBS may be related to other underlying health concerns. Treating and managing such conditions could in turn improve my IBS symptoms.
 I have the following and therefore have to tackle this holistically: gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), indigestion (dyspepsia), intolerance or sensitivity to, certain foods, chronic stress, chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic pain, fibromyalgia, anxiety, and depression.

FODMAP:

Believing I have IBS, she [doctor] suggested I try the FODMAP diet. FODMAP stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols, which are short-chain carbohydrates (sugars) that the small intestine absorbs poorly. Some people experience digestive distress after eating them. This diet is designed to help people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and/or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) figure out which foods are problematic and which foods reduce symptoms. “The low FODMAP diet is a temporary eating plan that’s very restrictive,” says Johns Hopkins gastroenterologist Hazel Galon Veloso, M.D. “It’s always good to talk to your doctor before starting a new diet, but especially with the low FODMAP diet since it eliminates so many foods — it’s not a diet anyone should follow for long. It’s a short discovery process to determine what foods are troublesome for you.”

Symptoms include:

Cramping

Diarrhea

Constipation

Stomach bloating

Gas and flatulence

Low FODMAP is a three-step elimination diet: First, you stop eating certain foods (high FODMAP foods). Next, you slowly reintroduce them to see which ones are troublesome. Once you identify the foods that cause symptoms, you can avoid or limit them while enjoying everything else worry-free. “We recommend following the elimination portion of the diet for only two to six weeks,” says Veloso. Dietary changes can have a big impact on IBS and SIBO symptoms, but doctors often use other therapies as well. Antibiotics can quickly reduce small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, while laxatives and low-dose antidepressants can relieve symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. I would only want to use antibiotics as a last result due to the risks of becoming resistance. Now that I know that the list isn't as complicated as I thought, I can start meal planning accordingly. Will need to log foods that upset stomach to know which ones to avoid.

HSA:

I'm upset with myself that I forgot about HSAs; a type of savings account that lets you set aside money on a pre-tax basis to pay for qualified medical expenses. By using untaxed dollars in a Health Savings Account (HSA) to pay for deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, and some other expenses, a person may be able to lower their overall health care costs. Keep in mind, HSA funds generally may not be used to pay premiums. One of the primary benefits of HSAs is that they have three tax advantages. HSA contributions are either pre-tax (if through an employer) or tax-deductible (if you opened your own), you don’t pay taxes on the account’s growth, and if you make withdrawals for eligible expenses, you don’t pay tax on those withdrawals either. Because HSA contributions, don’t count toward your tax burden, you will be taxed as though you make less money. The example given: You make $40,000 per year. If you put $3,000 in your HSA, you will be taxed as though you make $37,000, thus lowering your tax burden. Better late than never, I signed up for one online. It was easy, fast, and simple. So, If I were to do it over: first I'd get the HSA, sign up for Forward, StretchU, and others, but it's not like I already spent a lot of money so it's just a hiccup. Swiftly corrected.

In Conclusion

First let me start by saying I'm working of a podcast, which is where the WELL-TRI section came from. I also took a 2 week leave from work. During that time, the focus was to rest and organize plans and priorities. Out of the medical leave, came more focus and less tolerance for nonsense and time to create my podcast. You can listen here. Banking has become even more difficult. I deposited a $2,000 check on the 19th and it's not available until the 24th. Imagine if I needed that for rent or other essentials, I'd be out of luck all because they wanted to change their policy to make it harder for people to get their own money. So, I would definitely be holding less of my money in banks, and you should probably consider your other options as well. The way everything is turning out, it seems to be proven that money (cash) should be held in assets that appreciate or yield income. Need to create a Master Savings: to hold all my long-term commitments or large purchases, the kind I make for my bday or special circumstances. My concerns revolve around SoCal, but I've traveled enough of the entire state and heard from others living in various cities, everything has gotten more expensive, creating more homeless and a cohort of other problems. Thanks to regulations, barriers, and taxes, most of Californians are eliminated out of the California Dream and left in a nightmare.

Time to get in the water, and swim away from shore. Focus more on what I believe the purpose is and my part within it. Facing my monster, demons, and self to fulfill potential.