Pardon me as I say “Ouch!” and grimace. Within the last year, my net worth has fallen more than 50%. But, but, but the NASDAQ has gone up almost 19%! Aargh! And yet, been here, done this, wading through it again; but as many of you know, I pass along the good and the bad.

Just look at the chart. Marvelous. A year ago my portfolio was on a streak. I didn’t think it could hold it, but I’ve been here before and know that selling out of fear is a bad idea. I did some profit taking, because I’m not going to pass up a good opportunity to make some spending cash. That’s how I live. There was a second spike which convinced me to take some more (as it started to fall), which is what populates my checking account. Gotta pay those bills.

Ah, to get a new car. There’s enough, but then there’d be little left. A downturn like my portfolio is going through can take months to recover from. In the meantime, cash is handy. Replacing my Jeep would be handy too, but that’s a separate topic and a separate decision.

My style of investing is to buy stock in small companies, wait for them to be found, then profit from the rise in price. 

My style of investing also dissociates my stocks from the general market. The general market is driven by a few very large stocks. Whatever MSFT or AMZN are doing doesn’t matter to stocks like QBTS or LUNR. 

Until it did. SPCX pulled so much interest that money flowed away from many stocks to fuel purchases of SPCX. There is and was a fear of missing out. Bandwagons are built for such journeys. There is currently a romance happening between the investment community and the charismatic mega-caps. There is an expectation that a trillion dollar company means there will be another trillion soon. The investment money has shifted. The revenues are questionable. I doubt that a doubling is sustainable. The NASDAQ is driven by the mega-caps. The NASDAQ is up over 18%

My portfolio is down about 50%. Sometimes, at least in the short term, it is a zero-sum game. 

At the lower end of the investing spectrum, I have an easier time imagining any of my stocks seeing a five-fold increase. Any day now. Please.

Any day now is hope, or a strategy, or a perspective. It is like the strategy I have in investing in the lottery. (Pardon me as I check the jackpot numbers. There’s definitely new car money in there.)

I’m not saying that 50% swings are easy to take. My approach is risky, and risky can mean the possibility of loss. Risk does not require reward, but I take those risks because I think the possible rewards justify it. 

Investing can be a long game. I’ve been investing since 1980. I’m not sure how long my game is going to last. Steady 10% increases are considered aggressive. I can see why conservative 5% increases can work over the course of decades. I might need more sooner. I also have done this before, so I know how it can play out. I also have concerns about the economy and civilization that suggest making the money now may be beneficial because there is a history of currencies crashing. I’m glad I don’t have a mortgage.

My portfolio looks painful but that is compared to a year ago. A year ago, LUNR and QBTS were irrationally high. Hype happens. Fear of missing out isn’t new. My portfolio is still above where it was in May 2025, and definitely above where it was in May 2024, when I’d just sold my house.

I won’t say sitting here is easy. I won’t say that knowing the numbers from years ago leaves me at ease. I’d like that new car. (An EV that I can sleep in for travel.)

I do know that many of my largest holdings have happened because I waited out the market swings. Early companies, small stocks, live in a world where financials are stories, not data. New industries are hard to value. I don’t try. I try to buy into such industries that are confusing now but probably profitable soon enough. 

My approach can sound silly. That’s one of its measures, at least for me. The internet? Okay, I’ll buy into AOL. Expensive coffee? SBUX was fun and profitable to have. Computer animation? PIXR didn’t make sense to many, but it did to me.  I may lose 100% on some stocks, but others can go up much more than that.

GERN, LCTX, MVIS, SLDP, GMGMF, LUNR, QBTS. It is unlikely that they all will succeed, but they might. It is unlikely that they all will fail, but they might. What’s more likely is that some will succeed. Hopefully, they will be enough. Hopefully, my cash gets me there. Hopefully, I remember to concentrate on enjoying this other, non-financial world because living is still more important than investing, for me.