Buy and Forget Stocks - Robert Kirby

It's better to buy and hold a diversified stock portfolio than to constantly trade.   Some stocks will go down, some stocks will go up and a few will go up a lot. In my case, I tend to sell winners too soon, e.g. Apple, Amazon and Google which I owned early on, and hold the losers for a decade or more. 

 Here's the same anecdote from two different sources.   

Invest and forget? The fascinating story behind coffee can portfolio from upstox.com

The coffee can story

The woman's financial affairs were handled by her husband, a lawyer. He was also her primary contact with Kirby’s firm.

Kirby worked with the woman for around 10 years, after which her husband suddenly died. She inherited his estate and securities and wanted to add the latter to her portfolio.

When Kirby analysed the list of assets left by the man, he was “amused” and even “shocked”.

The woman’s husband had passed away with an odd-looking portfolio of many small and large holdings. Several small investments in his portfolio were valued below $2,000. There were also many large holdings valued over $100,000.

However, one of his investments stood out. The man had shares of Haloid (which later became Xerox) worth $800,000. And this single investment was larger than the entire portfolio of his wife.

So, how did the man secretly amass such a big portfolio?

Kirby found the man was secretly piggybacking on recommendations for his wife's portfolio but with a twist of his own.

Every time Kirby gave a buy recommendation for the woman, her husband purchased shares worth $5,000 but never paid attention to the sell calls. After every purchase, the man tossed the share certificates in a safe deposit box and forgot it.

The Coffee Can Portfolio from the Stingyinvestor.com

"I had worked with the client for about ten years, when her husband suddenly died. She inherited his estate and called us to say that she would be adding his securities to the portfolio under our management. When we received the list of assets, I was amused to find that he had secretly been piggy-backing our recommendations for his wife's portfolio. Then, when I looked at the total value of the estate, I was also shocked. The husband had applied a small twist of his own to our advice: He paid no attention whatsoever to the sale recommendations. He simply put about $5,000 in every purchase recommendation. Then he would toss the certificate in his safe-deposit box and forget it.

Needless to say, he had an odd-looking portfolio. He owned a number of small holdings with values of less than $2,000. He had several large holdings with values in excess of $100,000. There was one jumbo holding worth over $800,000 that exceeded the total value of his wife's portfolio and came from a small commitment in a company called Haloid; this later turned out to be a zillion shares of Xerox."

It's too hard to know which individual stocks will be a longer term winner. I've owned AAPL, GOOGL, and AMZN but sold for relative small gains of 10-20%.  I've also owned SFIX and didn't sell at 500% and now am down 80%. That's why I'm switching to holding index ETFs which own a basket of stocks and continuously cull out the losers and keep the winners.

For more on Strategies and Plans Ideas, check back every  Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, stock picking, nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Appears the Dip is Continuing

There wasn't a big recovery at close.  It looks like the dip will continue.  At this point, I'm mostly done buying and will wait out the decline.  It seems buying now will be like catching a falling knife.  I may put some way out of the money buy orders, but other than that, I will be on the sidelines.

I did sell some TSLA for a small profit.   But other than that, I am holding my buy the dip purchase for now, and maybe for much longer.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, stock picking, nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Buy the Dip Stocks Quit Rebounding

My buy the dip stocks reversed today and decline significantly at mid-day.  I guess the CPI and Jobs report didn't impress investors.  At this point, I'm going to stop purchasing the buy the dip stocks, with the exception of putting some low ball bids on a couple stocks.   Unfortunately, this may end up as "catching a falling knife."   Ouch.  Now I wish I had sold some for a small profit yesterday.

This experience reinforced my plan to move our investments from individual stocks to index ETFs.   I already mentioned VOO (S&P 500) and MGK  (Large Cap Growth).  I decided to add SCHD (a dividend stock ETF) and RSP (Equal weight S&P 500).     Today, I added some VOO, SCHD and RSP to some of our accounts.

I'm hoping for a recovery into the close of trading.   

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every  Wednesday  for a new segment.

This is not financial, stock picking, nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Avoiding New Real Estate Investments

Here's the back story.  My dad was a big proponent of owning investment real estate.   Back then, there were significant tax advantages for owning rental real estate, that are no longer available today.  At that time, one could use real estate losses, due primarily to depreciation, to offset and reduce wage income.   In addition, depreciation recovery was taxed at long term capital gains rates. 

I partnered with my dad on a few real estate investments, mainly for the tax breaks which did reduce my taxable income.  However, none of the investments did much better than break even.

Since then, those tax benefits have mostly been eliminated by the tax code changes.   Real estate losses are now limited to $25000 and only below $150,000 AGI income unless one is a "real estate professional."  This limits high income earners from using rental real estate to reduced wage income.  In addition, depreciation recapture is now taxed at 25% rate instead of the 15% long term capital gains rate.

When my parents both passed away, I inherited a partnership share in commercial rental property and vacant investment land.  The commercial property was fully paid off, long term tenants, and managed by a property management company.  The vacant land was residential property that abutted commercial properties.  Both properties were located in different states from where I resided and were relatively low effort.  After 6 years, I received an unsolicited offer by a developer for the  vacant land and it took almost 3 years to complete the deal.   The commercial property is positive cash flow, but most of the other partners are not involved leaving all the work to one other partner and me.

Based on stories I've heard, I realized I have been extremely lucky with both of these real estate investments.  They both have been profitable and relatively low effort.   However, I also realize that most real estate investments take much more effort, financial commitment and risks.  Since I am moving towards simplifying our retirement investments, I am unlikely to take on any new real estate investments, other than to invest in REIT stocks.

Are real estate investment right for some people?  Absolutely. It can be a great investment.  Doing well takes a lot of time, effort, skills and patience, which I don't want to do in retirement.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance check back Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, investment, nor real estate advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

After Market Close Evaluation of Buy the Dip Stocks

Well the market peaked about mid-day and faded from there until the close.  That doesn't bode well for tomorrow.  I guess everyone is waiting for CPI and jobs data, which is coming out late due to the short government shutdown.

Here is my latest reassessment and the last I am posting.   Black is originally from yesterday.  Green and black cross outs from mid-day today.  Red is from the after market.

                                     Index ETF Keepers:   VOO, MGK

                              Holds for higher returns:   MSFT, TSLA, 

Possible Holds but scale out on the way up:   NOW, CRM, HUBS, NFLX, ADBE, ACN

                            Hoping to get some gains:   HUBS, NFLX, ADBE, TEAM, ADBE

                                         Praying not a loss:   UNH, TEAM, ACN 

The rebound fading is cause for some concern.   We'll see how tomorrow goes and make adjustments as needed.

       

For more on Ideas You Can Use , check back every  Tuesday  for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Mid-Day Reassessment of Buy the Dip Stocks

I'm feeling pretty good about my picks at this time.

Here's my reassessment of the stocks I bought on the dip last week.  The stocks are all positive mid-day, Woohoo!  Hopefully, they continue to stay positive.

The ones in black are yesterday's assessment.  Green is the new assessment.

                                     Index ETF Keepers:   VOO, MGK

                              Holds for higher returns:   MSFT, TSLA, 

Possible Holds but scale out on the way up:   NOW, CRM, HUBS, NFLX, ADBE, ACN

                            Hoping to get some gains:   HUBS, NFLX, ADBE, TEAM

                                         Praying not a loss:   UNH, TEAM, ACN

Of course, the results and status can change quickly in this market.   

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every  Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial. stock picking nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Cash Basis Creates A Realistic Budget

Budgeting seems like a lot of extra planning and detailed work.  My simple solution to budgeting was to live on a cash basis initially.

After graduating from college, I lived on a cash basis for a couple years.  It was very empowering financially.  I learned quickly how to live within my means.   In my first month of employment, I ran of out money three days before my monthly paycheck.  

Fortunately, I was paid on the last business day of the month via direct deposit.   Thus, I had funds to pay my rent on the 1st.   However, it was a good learning experience for me.  I managed my finances so I didn't run of out money again.  I lived on a cash basis, i.e. no credit cards, until I took out a loan for my first new car a couple year later.

I started managing my spending to have a little left over by next monthly payday.  I considered that my savings.  I did this for many years.

If I did it over again, I would use the 50/20/30 rule:  50% necessities, 20% savings, 30% wants.  I wrote about how to do this in Be One's Own CFO for Personal Finances.

For more on Ideas You Can Use , check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial budgeting, nor spending advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Tomorrow's Stock Trading Thoughts

Pretty wild in the stock market today.  My beaten down dip buys did OK overall.  Tonight, I a pre-thinking my trading for tomorrow. 

                                     Index ETF Keepers:   VOO, MGK

                              Holds for higher returns:   MSFT, TSLA, 

Possible Holds but scale out on the way up:   NOW, CRM

                            Hoping to get some gains:   HUBS, NFLX, ADBE

                                         Praying not a loss:   UNH, TEAM, ACN

The above is my starting point.  As the day evolves, the stock category may change and I will treat the position accordingly.

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.

This is not financial, stock picking nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Individual Stock Prices Seem Too Schizophrenic

Down, up, or sideways erratically is how stocks seem to move nowadays.

Here's how my last week buy the dip stocks went today.  Down at the open, up after an hour, rising through mid-day, faded into the close and was mostly positive.   ACN and TEAM are still down.  UNH, NFLX, HUBS and ADBE went from down almost break even.  NOW and CRM went from down to up.  MSFT and TSLA advanced further.  The index ETFs, VOO and MGK, were stable and remained up.

I'm still down a little from buying the dip.   However, the emotions were a roller coaster as the individual stocks look like they might decline further before reversing.   Too much anxiety/excitement for me.  I definitely enjoyed the results confirming my choice to buy the dip, but who knows what tomorrow, next week or next month will bring.  I will scaling out of these individual stock over the next few days, weeks, or months and taking the profit.  

Based on this experience so far, I don't expect I will be trading individual stocks for short term profits on a regular or substantial basis. I may occasionally trade up to 10 stocks that I track which allows me to better anticipate short term price movements.   Other that that, I will stay invested in the current previously managed accounts and add broad market index ETFs, such as VOO and MGK, on the future dips.

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.

This is not financial, stock, nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Evaluation for Buying on This Dip

It looks like I bought the beaten down stock too soon.   ADBE, ACN, TEAM, NFLX, HUBS, and UNH dropped further early in trading.  MSFT and TSLA rose.  NOW and CRM are even.  The index ETFs, VOO and MGK, are up.

For now, I may try to add to couple positions, such as HUBS and TEAM, but not planning to buy much otherwise.   I will wait a few days before considering making more purchases. 

Overall, this decline occurrence of individual stocks versus rising index ETFs is supporting my move out of individual stock selection and into market index ETFs/mutual funds.  Less attention needed and less volatility stress.

Hopefully, the day will end better for the individual stocks.

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday  for a new segment.

This is not financial, stock, nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC