Panic Selling Winners Reduced My Investment Returns

I must confess that I the owned the following stocks before they were big winners:  GOOGL, AMZN, AAPL.   200 shares of each.   If I had kept them through today, I would have $900K ,  $1.3M and $1.5M respectively today.  The gains would have been 12594% , 2398%, and 14346% respectively. Yeah, but I didn't hold.  They all dipped significantly after I bought.  When they recovered many months later, I sold them for a small profit of about 15%.  Would've, could've, should've.    

20-30 years later, in retrospect, I believe I know why.  Simply, my investment mentality was to maximize growth which led to me being overly concerned about stock declining and a 1929 like crash always being greater than my investment conviction. In addition, I judged success by an increase in account value. Therefore, I would lock in gains by selling previously declining stocks once the price crossed the breakeven point by a small margin.  Of course, in some cases declining stocks never recovered, which would have enabled to me to sell.  Such stocks are still in my accounts.

I read this comment on Wall Street Bets over the weekend:

"I hold my losers.

I cut my winners.

We are not the same."

LOL, describes me exactly.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Federal Tax on AI Tokens or AI Subscription Costs

Mark Cuban has proposed a tax on AI tokens of $0.50 per million tokens.  I think taxing AI is a great policy idea for the following reason:

• AI is expected to replace human jobs that would have paid income taxes.   Purchasing AI should incur tax to replace the lost revenue from taxing humans.   I expect this would be acceptable to business since AI would replace more workers than it costs and therefore, the tax impact would still be a cost savings.

I would expand the tax to cover subscription services/costs for AI also, if these are other forms of payments other than for tokens.   In addition, an estimation of lost tax revenue from human job replacement should be made to determine the "income tax" revenue from AI usage.

If I were running for public office, I would make this a key element of my policy platform.

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

This is not financial, policy, nor tax advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Fixed Income Vs. Equities In a Crash

With long term interest rates at 5%, I am increasing the amount of funds invested in fixed income. It makes sense to based on a previous analysis I did.

I wrote Fixed Income vs. Equities after a 40% Decline in November 2008 after a 40% in the stock market.  The analysis showed the equities needed to return between from 7-16% annually in order to beat a 5% CD during the same time frame, with higher returns needed for shorter holding periods.

I've already started buying some 20 year Treasuries yielding over 5% with a 5% coupon.   Now, I'm leaning towards TLT and GOVT ETFs as options, since I don't need to manage reinvestment at maturity.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Situational Awareness Status

Last week, Leopold Aschenbrenner's letter to investors said that despite a 67% decline in July, Situational Awareness is still up 80% YTD.   The fund has taken steps to stop the decline and preserve fund assets. The fund has survived to see another day.

However, based on what I've read in different articles, it doesn't compute.  For example, one article described the fall from $45B to $10B which is greater than 67%.  I guess there must be other funds besides Situational Awareness in this decline.

Oh well, I expect more details will be share in the coming weeks or months.

For more on  New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial, stock investment, margin, short/long strategy, nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

A Black Swan Omen?

The hedge fund, Situational Awareness, had a partial liquidation last week via Citadel.  The fund was overleveraged and on the wrong side of memory chip (long)  and SAAS software stock (short) trades.  It was the perfect storm this last week.

Leopold Aschenbrenner is the wunderkind hedge fund manager.  Here is more info about him in Fortune, Daily Mail, and CNBC.

Initially, Leopold made all the right decisions, turning $150M into $25B for his investors.  Until last week, when all his purchases and shorts went against him.  Fortunately for his investors, the fund was not wiped out, at least not yet.

The looming question is if this is a one off event or the first of many cockroach events to come.

We shall see.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Dumping TSLA due to Possible Muskman Shenanigans

Although TSLA was one of my buy the dip stocks, I'm considering selling TSLA once it become slightly profitable.  My reason is that I have lost confidence in TSLA due to SPCX rumors of a TSLA merger or buyout.   Since Muskman is a majority shareholder in both, he controls whether is will happen or not.  I expect Muskman will want all his companies under one corporate structure.  

After seeing Muskman's shenanigans with DOGE, I fully expect more shenanigans with a SPCX merger with or buyout of TSLA.  I don't like the possibility, despite Muskman's success with TSLA.   I believe a merger or buying is merely financial engineering instead of actually creating incremental value. 

However, Muskman is way smarter than me.   After all, he was the first trillionaire, although now a half trillionaire after the 50% decline in SPCX and 33% decline in TSLA.  

We shall see whether I can get out of TSLA for a small profit or become a longer term bag holder.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Not Worried About Declining Market - Yet

Even though the market is falling, I'm still hodling and not selling.    I'm not buying the dip either.   I believe there may be more further downside for longer, which will provide a real time test of my "retirement paycheck" strategy.

Right now, it seems the declines are rotating through different sectors.  Some of my stock sectors seem to have "balance."    When semis go down, software stocks go up.  When software stocks go down, semis go up.   I know this form of volatility my be transitional and eventually every position will go one direction, up or down.

In the meantime, I'm monitoring how my interest and dividends "retirement paycheck" is delivering.  As long as the amount remains relatively stable on annual basis, I won't be worried.  So far, the payments have been as expect for the first half of 2026..

For more on  Reaping the Rewards, check back every  Friday for a new segment.

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Social Security Payment Uncertainties

Pensions and Social Security used to create financial security for many retirees due to certainty.  However, over the past 30 years, many pensions have gone by the wayside, eliminating this certainty of retirement income.  Now the certainty of Social Security payments is at risk.

For retirees, the future of Social Security payments shouldn't be uncertain, yet the sustainability of promised amounts is very uncertain.  The latest estimate is that Social Security benefits will be cut 22% across the board by 2032 if Congress does not take action.  Since many retirees depend on Social Security payments for everyday expenses, this uncertainty is unacceptable. 

Even if Congress does act, the effect on retirees may be different depending on which option eventually passes.  The options include: raising the percentage for FICA tax, removing income caps for FICA, doing means testing, capping benefits or combinations of these.    The difficulty for retirees is that these solutions possibly change benefits for many retirees, making the future income very uncertain.

Personally, I believe this should be the number one priority for legislation, given the broad impact it has on citizens.  

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every  Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial, retirement nor Social Security advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Are SAAS Stocks Back?

I'm still hodling my buy the dip stocks that were purchased in February 2026.  It's been a wild ride.  First they appeared to be recovering.  Then they dropped to 52 week lows last week.  Now, they are up 20-40% in just the first three days of this week.  What a roller coaster.

In the meantime, memory and space stocks which were on a tear since the beginning of 2026 are now down as much as 50% in the past month.   Muskman is no longer a trillionaire.  Muskman has lost his shine, along with the decline of space stocks and TSLA .  AI has also become tarnished as its capabilities seem less miraculous than doomsayers claim.  On the other hand, SAAS stocks have regained their previous luster. 

As I wrote two weeks ago, I've stopped buying the dip.   I'm sticking to that right now.  However, I'm slightly scaling out of one position, HUBS, since I am a little overinvested in HUBS. Otherwise, I am comfortable hodling my SAAS stock positions for a 100% return by end of year.

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

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

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Procrastination is Hoarding Eventual Work

I know hoarding physical items is not good.  Same is true hoarding things to do.

Hoarding work creates a backlog of work that still needs to be done.   It doesn't go away.   Wait long enough and the backlog become insurmountable. For example, delaying saving for retirement can be devastating if one starts in their 60s. LOL.

My solution is to break work into small chunks and lead to small wins.  For example, instead of sweating the final savings number for retirement, carve out much smaller monthly contribution and stick to it.  For example, saving $158.15 a month for 40 years will become $1 million.   I'm using the same principle on my home projects.   Instead of carving out a large amount of hours, I put 1-2 hours per day on a project, take a break, and start it up again the next day or even later in the week.  I did this with cleaning and staining our deck and I have been able to easily get the flooring cleaned and stained.  I'm now doing the same with the slatted walls.

Hopefully, this new strategy and approach will help me get projects done and give my kids a good head start on their retirement savings.  I think I will eventually get up to 4 hours a day on our home maintenance/improvement projects.  Almost like going back to work again.😎

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

This is not financial, saving, retirement nor home maintenance advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2026 Achievement Catalyst, LLC