Value Investing IS Thrifty Investing

When I first started Thrifty Investing, it was to discuss ways to invest in the market with the best apps and least amount of fees. It’s hard to have only one brokerage or app these days, because most have a feature that the other does not have.

When I first started investing, I tried my hand at Day Trading. After a few months of ups and downs (emotionally as well) I decided I would become a long term investor. I began to really look into why Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger were so good at what they did. I learned and I am still learning how to be a Value Investor, as well as a long time investor, instead of swing trading or day trading. My family and I are in the market for the long haul!

I feel like Thrifty Investing has become a combination of the two. Using the best apps with the best features, to find and buy stocks and ETFs with the best value. (due diligence required). In value investing, we’re constantly looking for businesses that are undervalued and not talked about. We look for long term plays that maybe in a 1-5 year time line, the company has a turn around and increases in price.

Being thrifty is all about finding the best deals, and saving as much along the way as you can. With these apps like, Webull, SoFi, Public, and M1 offering so much, not just in terms of access to stocks and ETFs, but High Yield Cash Accounts to park your money and earn interest. Credit Cards that give reward points to allow you to turn that cash back into more shares of companies you love. We have an edge on our investing forefathers, with no fees, no brick & mortar needed, and the speed of the internet in the palm of our hands that gives us up to date knowledge at all times. Yes, that last statement might be at times, too much, but it gives us an edge as well.

Using these apps and taking it upon ourselves to learn as much as possible about investing, we can defeat the odds of crushing debt, and increase the odds of early retirement.

Thrifty Investing will discuss Value Investing a lot more in the future and our hope is to help open your eyes and mind to a different style of investing!

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Navigating the Market: The Hottest Stock Market Sectors for 2024

There have been some notable sectors that have been hitting the news lately and I’m sure you’re sick of hearing about some of them. When something is talked about relentlessly on the news or family members bring it up at dinner, that something starts to feel like a top, or maybe a bubble about to burst.

Sometimes, it’s worth the talking about because it’s become revolutionary, and will become even more revolutionary as time goes on. AI being one of those big topics right now, and that leads to the Technology sector being discussed relentlessly. So, have you added AI into your portfolio?

There are so many aspects to AI, that I believe it will help all businesses eventually. And since I believe it will help all businesses, I think it’s more than a Technology sector play, and more of a universal play. What can AI assist with in the Healthcare sector, or Logistics, or even Energy? It will eventually extend into all sectors, but the one that is developing it all right now is the Technology sector. It’s unavoidable. So if you haven’t already, do your research and figure out which AI company/companies to add to your portfolio.

Financials. Oh I am sure you’ve heard everything there is to hear about rate cuts, except for when they’ll actually happen. It might sound boring, it might sound repetitive, but there is a great reason to stay on top of this. If this is the bottom, and rate cuts eventually do hit, who benefits? Banks! Companies are going to want to start borrowing again once those rates come down, or even refinancing, and those banks are going to come out looking pretty well. Do your research and see if any banks that are going to benefit from rate cuts get added to your portfolio.

Financials also tends to bleed into REITS for me. When the rate cuts go into effect, I think the housing market will pick back up and so will other real estate plays. Real Estate is going to need mortgages, land to develop, and most will be borrowing or refinancing the borrowed money.

Electric Vehicles. EV’s are a hot topic right now, but are they worth being discussed? If so, which one or ones? With everyone having a hybrid or fully electric vehicle in their inventory, its hard to ignore that eventually electric will be the future. It’s not an if, but a when. When will it get the same mileage as a gas vehicle and when will it be as affordable as a gas vehicle.

It might not be right now, but eventually, those miles will go up, and the vehicles will become more affordable. Even the big car manufacturers have electric models of their most popular vehicles. Who does it the best, who’s done it the longest, and who has the best track record? Those are research questions for you to see what EV maker to possibly add to your portfolio.

If you don’t feel the same about these three sectors, please feel free to let me know! These are the big sectors and markets that I am looking into and will add to in down markets. What are the sectors you’re currently looking at?

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EchoStar – DISH Network – Sling TV

It hasn’t been that long since EchoStar acquired DISH, but it hasn’t performed well. It seems their latest updates has them bleeding cash and living in uncertain times with uncertainty towards paying debt.

So what now? Bankruptcy? Restructure?

How about this, EchoStar should spin off Sling TV, and allow it to be eaten up by some other streamer, like Netflix. It would give Netflix a live TV lineup, DVR, and sports, which it currently doesn’t offer.

EchoStar needs to spin off their companies and allow them to be swallowed up, instead of letting them bleed under EchoStar. An attempt to compile satellites, a phone carrier, internet, and live TV, just didn’t seem to come together at the right time.

Reading the likelihood of failure for this company, it makes the acquisition of DISH that much stranger. What sort of turnaround were you expecting, and how fast were you expecting it?

I think instead of letting all businesses die under EchoStar, spin off Sling TV, or let it be bought out!

What do you think?

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How To Be A Thrifty Investor

In these days, learning about the stock market, brokerage accounts, and how to place trades, information comes from all over. So we wanted to give a few recommendations to help you on your journey into the world of investing.

First a foremost, invest in yourself. There are many books that are out there that can teach you the basics and give an understanding of what the market is and what investment products are available to you.

That being said, here are some things to look out for!

  1. Avoid Commissions: Most Places offer $0 commissions, but still, keep a look out.
    • In the past, commissions were unavoidable for investors. However, with the rise of online brokers, many apps now offer $0 commissions for most stocks and ETFs. Take advantage of these platforms to minimize costs. Search terms for finding available apps would be Fintech. Always do your due diligence!
  2. Use Passive Investments:
    • Consider investing in passively managed funds such as index funds and ETFs. These funds track existing indexes (like the S&P 500) and have lower transaction costs and management fees compared to actively managed funds.
  3. Find the Lowest Cost Variations:
    • When choosing investments, compare costs. For example, if you’re interested in an S&P 500 index fund, explore different options to see what management fees are associated with the fund. There are many funds, so always check on fees associated.
  4. Think Long Term:
    • When investing, you want to find companies or index funds that have a long term strategy. Good companies that will last through market swings and have a future.

Last, read! Reading is probably the biggest investment so you can make the best educated decisions when getting into the market. Invest in yourself!

What other things would you add to this list?

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Thoughts For The Long Weekend

Presidents Day is coming up on Monday, and that means a day off of the markets. I know, what are we gonna do all day?

Well, it’s a good time to relax and retreat from numbers if they’re getting you all crazy, or it’s a good time for research. Book reading, 10Ks, company news, insider buys, splits, mergers, and some good old due diligence.

This thought has me thinking. How do you research? What websites do you use? What sites or media do you watch/read to get your market news from?

I watch CNBC usually all day and will read articles as they are published, but I’m always looking for a good app for the smartphone. Let us know in the comments below with what you use for news.

I’ll be using my time to catch up and hopefully finish the book “You Can Be A Stock Market Genius” from Joel Greenblatt. It’s opening my world as to what to search for in new ideas and what corner they might exist in.

With inflation and PPI numbers being less than what we had hoped for, it’s understandable if you’d like to back away for a minute and have some breathing room, but down time is also a great time to learn. Knowledge is KING!

Have a great long weekend enjoying however you’d like!

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Stock Screeners – Investing Tools

Ever since I started this investing journey, I’ve been on the look out for investing tools. Software or apps that can help make this journey a little easier. I used to use Finviz and a few other sites to help me with stock screening, but recently I’ve come across two helpful sites that assist in that same arena.

We all have our corners to go to and find the deals that are worthy of our portfolio. The ones we aren’t currently thinking of, until we see it, read about it, and believe in it.

This week I have been using the Fintel.io and TradingView.com websites to locate and check into Low P/E and Low P/B stocks.

It got me wondering, since I haven’t really used much other than Google and Yahoo Finance, what else is out there? Do you pay a membership or subscription fee? What tools do you use?

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Let’s Get Into It!

What stock or stocks, or ETF’s are you looking at today?

Sometimes company news can push a stock to act out of sorts from the rest of the market, or even the sector the stock is in. This news can send the stock price soaring, or crashing, depending on the context of the news.

Because of news, price action occurs, and that has me paying attention to a particular stock in my portfolio today.

The stock I am paying attention to is Big Lots. Keeping an eye and seeing how low the price will go, as the price action has been intense all morning.

Suffering from a downgrade from Loop Capital as well as some unsavory reports of debt and looking for financing, it feels there are a lot of sellers right now. Pushing the price through support lines and claiming lows we have not seen in a while, Big Lots has been beaten up. But does this leave an opening for opportunity? Only due diligence of research can tell that answer.

Big Lots reports on March 7th and they have been working on their issues for a while now. Working with suppliers, especially for furniture, working on taking down debt, as well as beautiful store changes (at least at my local Big Lots store).

This fear and activity feels like a shake down to remove those paper handed investors, and come March, we will see that price action happen again, except on the opposite, and soaring high!

Obviously I don’t know the future, but I am hopeful! This is not investment advice, do your own research before you put money into an investment.

Do you have any stocks that are particularly beaten down that you have your eye on?

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What Books Are You Reading This Year?

I just finished “The Everyday Hero Manifesto” by Robin Sharma, and I have to say, he really knows how to inspire. I’ve read his book, “The 5 A.M. Club” previously and it really worked for me. I obviously need to re-read the 5 A.M. Club, because I hit a wall, and never went through it.

After reading The Everyday Hero Manifesto, I felt like I was ready to get back onto that horse, and try to wake up earlier, so I will be re-reading that book this year, to inspire me and hopefully it will be for the long haul.

My next book I am reading is called “You Can Be A Stock Market Genius” by Joel Greenblatt. This book has been recommended many times as well as being referenced through many other investment books and investment celebrities.

I am just starting, but I already enjoy the way Joel Greenblatt writes, as well as the direction this book is going. Its definitely an eye opener to the “How many stocks should I have in my portfolio?” question.

I’ll be excited to keep reading and gain a new perspective on the market I may not have already had.

Then, after this book, I will need to choose another. I have many sitting on the book shelves, but it made me wonder, what books are you all reading this year?

I’ll keep a tracker of the books I’ve read this year and possibly make posts for them, and you do me a favor, by telling me which books you are reading! Have you finished any yet this year?

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Becoming A Thrifty Investor

How do you become a thrifty investor? You look for deals. You look for the best offer for your money. Just like when you go to the store and you compare weight to prices of competitors.

You want to make sure you have the most value for your money, especially coming out of a high inflationary period. We live in a great time of “dumb money” or Main Street investors. We have FINTECH!

Obviously I have talked at great length of what apps my family and I use and honestly, if you’ve read those articles you would know why we use them. It’s not just because they are great apps and constantly update and offer new products to investors, though. It’s also because, all we need to do is download the app, sign up for their brokerage, and typically you get some sort of start up bonus.

If you use someone’s affiliation link, you can get an even better start up bonus, and that’s just adding to the level of thrift that fintech has. Finding $0.00 commissions on trading, or deals on level 2 Trading Views, High Interest Savings Accounts, access to money markets, or private/pre-ipo companies. These are all big levels of access that our stock market ancestors never got to use.

They would have to buy 100 shares at a time, not fractional shares. You would need a minimum in a brokerage account and also pay fees every transaction. They wouldn’t be able to start with $5 and still have access to the markets, and that’s where we are lucky and automatically thrifty.

Having $0 commission is revolutionary for the Main Street investor. I’m here writing about it, because I’m so luck to be able to participate. It’s not always been that easy, so with technology, comes thrift. And we must look for the best deal with our thrift, while also making sure we do our due diligence to find a reputable brokerage.

Don’t just go with whatever sounds the best, truly do your research in what brokerage you put your money with.

Speaking of being thrifty and all of what fintech has to offer, what is your favorite part of these fintech apps that give you access to the financial markets?

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Wall Street Worries Too Much

What a typical day in the life of Wall Street, where they pay way too much attention to immediate news. You’d think none of them know what Long Term means, and at this rate of market fluctuations, Short Term isn’t known either.

The Fed needs to see more data before rate cuts are announced. How is that surprising anyone?

What is the point of being hyper reactive to something that we already knew and should have already been priced in?

I’ll tell ya, I just sit back, and look at the coffee cup my wife gave me a few years ago. it says “Sip and buy the dips”. That’s right, because while others are being silly, selling shares or selling short, we’re accumulating.

So give it all you got, because next week, hell tomorrow, they’ll be talking about something completely different and the market will be reacting along with it.

Buying anything today?

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