I was expecting a quiet week. Selling books and photos was in the online mode, i.e., hands-off because deliveries needed time too. It looked like a good week to catch up on a rare season of stock investing after years of hardly any activity. (Stock Shopping – 2024) Having cash from a house sale made the difference. There were spreadsheets to update, some light research as usual, and beginning the draft of my semi-annual portfolio review. Then, what the…?! The stock surge from the reconciling of the election uncertainties (Election Impact – 2024) surged again, like waves in a bathtub. This could get messy. Let’s get busy.

Skip the chamomile, and its soothing properties. I needed assam, black tea, straight, no honey. It should be hot, but I’d be so distracted that I knew it would cool by the time I was done. (Irony, got a new delivery of teas and herbs from Dandelion Botanical. It might be Christmas morning before I open the box. A gift to myself! Also, an excuse to mention my book about tea in modern America, Kettle Pot Cup, a fundraiser for tea pickers.) 

Check my Twitter (won’t call it X, and now on Bluesky) feed (@tetrimbath) to track most of what I buy and sell, or the tail end of one of my recent posts. The definitive list is in the semi-annual portfolio review – and I’ll get back to that. Within the last two weeks, every day has seen a Buy or a Sell as I bolster some positions, eliminate others, and even take profits. (Gasp! Actual profits? QBTS has been a ride.)

One measure of my portfolio’s performance has been a ten-fold increase in the values of the transactions from before I sold my house. That heightens the adrenaline and shifts some perspectives. Fortunately, I’ve been through this before. Remember those lessons about balancing logic with emotion, objective math with subjective values. It can all feel like a game. It can all feel vital. Investing has a mix of those two vital points of view.

A quick check of my stocks (thanks to Google Finance for when I want a faster answer than the more official one from my brokerage, Schwab) shows that over the last week, most of my stocks have seen double-digit percentage moves. For reference, traditionally, a conservative expectation for stock performance is 7-10% per year. As I type this, two of my stocks (SLDP, QBTS) are up over 10% so far today. The rest are moving by several percent, including two that are heading the wrong way. Pesky biotechs. Opportunity? Looking back a bit longer, over the last six months, LUNR is up ~270% and QBTS is up ~ 520%. Today’s short-term moves aren’t as important as the long term. As I mentioned, I’ve been here a few times before. Being up >500% meant I was able to Sell 20% of my QBTS and recoup my original investment, leaving the remainder as pure profit that I can Hold through future risks and rewards until I confidently have more than enough.

Selling 20% of a position means I now have cash. Instead of mildly bolstering positions or adding new holdings, I can make bigger moves. Hello, GMGMF (graphene-based solid batteries). What to do? What to do?

To Do:
1) It is Christmas. Buy and give gifts.
2) I’ve lived in scarcity for over a decade. Buy gifts for me, which can be as simple as more tea, an out-of-production DVD player, and go on a food and pantry shopping spree to restock shelf-stable staples like herbs, spices, teas, wines, liquor, nuts, etc.
3) And not third on the list, simply typed third, give generously. 

Giving
I may have mentioned an encounter from earlier this year. In the Spring of 2024, I moved from the vicinity of one tourist town (Langley, where I had too much house debt) to another tourist town (Port Townsend, one ferry ride away, where I am Debt-Free – and view-free, at least at home). Both have wealthy residents. Even before CEOs were being shot, one fervently and worryingly asked me, “I’m doing very well, but I don’t know what to do about it?” They were honestly displaying guilt. That’s courage. By the end of our short conversation, I said it really comes down to giving it away. It can be shopping local as much as possible and splurging on local goods and services. It can be pure charity. It can be paying taxes. It can also be formal and informal donations and contributions to organizations and individuals. Legacy gifts in wills are good, but money sooner is better than later. One simple solution: If you buy a luxury, donate 10% of that amount to a charity. My solution for my current situation: I guessed at how much I spent on myself, doubled it, and spent an afternoon making several donations. My net worth is still less than ‘enough’, so my donations may not be significant, but I hope I’ve found a good balance between caring for my community and myself.

And back to the stocks. Pardon me as I pause to check on them. For readers, this will only take as long as it takes to read a sentence. For me, I might be gone for a while.

…

OK. Pardon me again, as I notice that there are only two hours left in the trading week. There isn’t much left to the year, and much of it is holiday time. Trading gets weirder, then. I’ll step away from typing as I consider whether there is a need, or even a strong want, to Buy or Sell something.

I will, however, end with a reminder. I titled my book Dream. Invest. Live. for a purpose. Many investment and finance books are money, money, money. There’s no life in that. There are no dreams in that. I dream of a life that is many things including being comfortable and compassionate. Investing is merely the step between that dream and living it. Dream it. Invest for it. Live it. It has been too many years when I’ve had to scramble to survive. Now, I feel like I can get back to living. Good luck with your dreams and life, too.

To Do: 
Should I sell off WNDW because it hasn’t already recovered from its stumble? 
I have two biotechs, two solid battery companies, and one electronics component manufacturer, one quantum computer company, and one lunar aerospace firm? Should I diversify, add within categories, add a category, – that series of questions can be a book, not just a blog – but I’ll find an answer for myself.

…

Result:
A) Sold WNDW and XOS this week. I like the technologies (transparent solar cells for windows, electric delivery vehicles), but the companies do not give me confidence. Besides, except for a few tax rules, stocks can usually be bought back again. I checked my intuition; removing them from my portfolio did not generate a feeling of missing out or wanting more. Set them aside for a while. 
B) The rest can wait. I do not ‘need’ to act in haste, so, don’t.

BTW Unless there’s significant news, I may not post during the week of Christmas, but I will be working on My Semi-Annual Portfolio Review. This one may be more interesting than most. Stay tuned.