Gag! Last week, I was considering selling some LUNR or QBTS. I didn’t want to, but stocks are where I corral my cash, and it was time to consider, but not necessarily sell something. And then the world happens and my biggest stocks are down ~30%. Eep. Ouch! Investing involves risk. The good (?) is that I am not alone. Lots of stocks are dropping. At least I have company. At least I have (some) patience.

Scroll back to The Great Recession (aka The Second Great Depression). There were some terrible days back then. The same was true when the Internet Bubble burst. And then there was…many other instances. The companies behind my stock did nothing wrong. I don’t know the source of today’s cut, but it is pervasive; no one company explains it all. Still shoulda sold higher, but that’s a common lament.

For some, it is hard to Not take it personally. This is finance, personal finance; of course it seems personal. Hence the Ouch!

I suspect this episode will be like the others. Old adage, “It’s always the same.” simultaneously, “This time is different.”

In those others, the dips hurt but became opportunities. My patience paid off. After a sell-off, there was a period that was lackluster. Soon into it however, my portfolio tended to rise faster than the market. The only times that failed me was when AMSC had a prime customer become a competitor, and when DNDN was manipulated. In both cases I lost ~40% of my net worth. In both case the crooks were found guilty. In both cases my assets were gone. Let’s hope that never happens again.

(Illegal activity in the stock market?! Never! Hah.)

Here’s a  heat map from some random time on Friday, June 5, 2026. There’s a lot of red and not much green. None of my stocks are in that graphic, but when certain investors leave the market many stocks are affected. Eventually confidence returns for most. I hope it will this time.

I struggle when I write about personal finance and use the word ‘hope’ because hope is not a strategy, it’s a gamble, but for individuals, we have to hope about things we can’t see or control.

That’s all comfortably academic, but my checking account is getting lower than I’d like. It’s far greater than in my dismal years, but it is a time to watch and be ready to move.

My current situation: 

Rockets blew up, but they weren’t LUNR’s rockets. They might still get a lunar launch later this year, which should be a boost. (Sorry about the pun, but it would take more time to reword it.) I think it is a good-enough long-term industry to be in.

AI is grabbing the headlines, but I’m invested in quantum computing (QBTS). They’ve been progressing and making sales. AI is easier to write about, I guess, but quantum computing is a transformative technology and less of a threat to humanity. Security is at risk, but that’s an issue for a different post. I think quantum computing can be like buying INTC when they were young.

Those are my two most likely candidates. I bought LNR at ~$5. I bought QBTS at ~$1. LUNR is at >$28. QBTS is at >$23 (as I type). Both are profits. Whether I sell now or later is an optimization game that may be decided by the calendar.

Stay tuned.

In the meantime, I watch the stocks, write my books, and tend my health. The stocks? See above. My books? Twelve Months at Hurricane Ridge is done and available! (Check Lulu.com for links. Maybe Amazon too.) My health? Hey, I’m over 60 and a body part or so has been used, extensively. The appointments for my knee surgery and the surgery are modifying my life for a short while. I do look forward to dancing more again. 

Stay tuned? Yes, but there are other ways to do that. Much of what happens falls under this blog’s umbrella, but the book stuff is in another blog (https://tomthewriter.net/), and my tiny house stuff is yet another blog (https://www.mytinyexperiment.com/). If you do a web search you’ll find more but many of them are on hiatus for various reasons. 

Quit babbling, Tom. (Shameless self-promotion is Not a comfort zone for me. So it goes.)

So, yes, the market is upset. It may stay upset, but I believe that things will return to a norm, temporarily, so I should remain invested – and watch and hope. Caveat: In 2026, we have so many existantial threats that can change everything: AI, politics, climate, injustice, aliens, etc. Gotta watch that, too.