Hi @stillers Have at it with tech. related. I'm with you in this area of investing. We have remained U.S. centered with our investments for many years and have whatever foreign pieces make a good fit in the tech. area; as with BOTZ (robotics), IHI and FSMEX both being (medical tech), genomics, FTEC (Fidelity tech.), FHLC (Fidelity Health ETF) and the broad based growth of FBCG (Fidelity blue chip companies). We've not been inclined towards value, small cap, international or EM. We held junk bond funds for a period near the bottom of the market melt in 2008 and for several months afterward, and have held IG bond funds and still do; as well as money market now at about 5% yield. We're about 40% equity. Although we've done dollar cost averaging now into funds; not unlike our early days with IRA's and 401k's. Good enough for now, at this house.

FBCG Top holdings
Top 10 holdings AS OF Dec-31-2023
59.72%
of 159 total
MSFT Microsoft Corp 10.15%
NVDA NVIDIA Corp 9.81%
AAPL Apple Inc 9.63%
AMZN Amazon.com Inc 9.10%
GOOGL Alphabet Inc Class A 6.64%
META Meta Platforms Inc Class A 4.99%
UBER Uber Technologies Inc 2.62%
LLY Eli Lilly and Co 2.34%
NFLX Netflix Inc 2.22%
SNAP Snap Inc Class A 2.21%

Looking to add to my fixed income allocation, JEPI was sold and replaced with WCPNX which should perform well over the next few years.

The very thing! The very one I've been investigating! Have I done something RIGHT, maybe, for a change? ;)

Looking to add to my fixed income allocation, JEPI was sold and replaced with WCPNX which should perform well over the next few years.

I have owned Dodgx for many years- posted returns are accuarate- however I bought Dodfx at its inception and posted returns are NOT accurate- they are much lower I feel as its an insult to shareholders-

@Graust, remind me, where do I send the check?
All kidding aside, it's great to see that somebody gets it and took the time to (at least attempt to - we'll see) clarify! Yep, definitely NO intended bragging, WAY more about the somewhat unique strategy (for us at least) that worked!
For additional clarity...
We are in our 3rd, 5-yr Retirement Model Portfolio, so our strategy and holdings have changed significantly over our 12 years of retirement, mainly at the 5-yr intervals. (I've posted that a few times but some posters are still stuck on our first one!)
To wit, our (referenced) 5-yr, 5+% APY CD ladder is currently acting as two things:
(1) self-funded LT care bucket and
(2) ballast for our current, moderately(?) aggressive 85/15, stock/bond market portfolio. No dedicated bond funds for us at this point - bonds are only currently being held via PRWCX and FBALX.
I look forward to your post on the Mag 7 thread and intend to get back to it after the NVDA trade dust settles.
Hey, and thanks man!
EDIT: And if it means anything to anybody, on the Fido board (different handle, same photo!) I am relatively high in the all-important "Kudos Received' rankings and have received more Badges there than I know what to do with! I also stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, but sadly only once!

@stillers: IMO, the negativity for and lack of participation in the Mag 7 on this particular forum is astounding! And telling!
So, that's what I stated.
To those who seem to have misinterpreted that statement, please point me directly to exactly where in there I stated that my current strategy is better or that anyone else's current strategy is worse.
I can save you all some time - I did NOT.
All I said, pointedly and I thought carefully, was that it is "astounding" and "telling." And IMO, it is.
But I don't think that merits another poster showing me the door to trader's sites of all places! If you've followed my recent posts, you'd KNOW I ain't no trader!
As I've explained on various posts, IMO, very clearly, my two recent stock trades are currently RARE events for us. But we did venture into TWO indv stock trades YTD that have both, for the time being at least, worked out very favorably:
GOOGL BOT and SOLD within 10 days for 6%, and
NVDA BOT Tues-Wed this week, currently UP 18%. Still TBD if we will ca$h it in or HOLD it LT.
The interesting part of these two trades has been our strategy:
Limited reliance on either technical and/or fundamental analysis (both of which failed us miserably at times years ago when we did actively trade indv stocks), though there definitely was some of both, and more based on investor psychology.
(FWIW: We plan to do more of these this year IF similar opportunities arise - they'll be blue chips and will include the same pivot point, either book a ST gain or HOLD the position LT.)
The GOOGL trade was far easier. Market participants, per everything we read and heard then, had inexplicably punished GOOGL stock ~6% upon its last earnings report. The ~6% drop was regarded as irrational and tradeable by the experts we follow. We jumped in and within 10 calendar days it had gained back its goofy 6% DROP. We sold it and booked the ST gain.
The NVDA, Tues-Wed, very brief DCA BUYs, are well documented on the BSW thread. NVDA had a +/-11% swing projected coming into earnings. The DROP, if it was to be a DROP, appeared to start on Tues and continued into Wed, and IMO, was going to be brief, unmerited and tradeable, or act as a great entry point for a LT BUY & HOLD.
We BOT shares on both days and had an avg cost basis just above the Wed close. We missed the ~4% swoosh DOWN after hours and lost out on our intended topping off BUYs. And the NVDA swoosh UP, well, is now market history.
Being LT owners of FSELX since near its inception, we watch Semis, and in recent years, NVDA, very closely (some say anally). We were intent on BUYing any NVDA move DOWN IF revenues and earnings kept its FWD P/E in the same current range. We rolled the dice on Tues-Wed that they would. And...Voila!
To respond to the @Baseball_Fan question:
Yes, we started investing in 1980 and were participants in the dot com crash. We were punished severely as we were always 99+% stocks back in the day. We were young and stoopid and did NOT have a viable Exit Plan.
No, we do NOT see 2023-24 market conditions as anything resembling the dot com era and its historic ~77% NASDAQ crash. Without getting into the weeds on that topic, we'd offer that anyone who has researched that topic with any vigor likely agrees. That however is NOT to say that we can't/won't see yet another mighty DROP in technology - but ~77%, pretty sure not.
More importantly, anyone who did get bent over by the dot com crash (all four of our my hands are raised HIGH!) should have learned by it and should have a viable Exit Plan strategy in place. We do, but IMO, we won't be executing it anytime soon. All eyes are however trained on the Fed and the May meeting, as the Fed, IMO, NOT NVDA or Semis or Tech, are STILL the biggest threat to the markets.
Thanks to @MikeW for the kind words!
Bottom Line: We're having a monster year (so far) but DI's iconic words about "dancing at the exit doors" are always bobbing and weaving in our heads.

All I see is a beautiful uptrend SP500 in the last 4 months + performance of 20+% + low volatility where the index didn't lose more than 2.5% from any last top = excellent risk/reward.
See the chart https://schrts.co/hTeZtxIG
On Nov 1st I posted..."You can just play it simple: no diversification, no predictions, no narrow range funds, looks like tilting LC growth is here to stay which = SPY/VOO or you can gamble and use some QQQ."
So, you can work a lot harder and do much less, such as diversification, invest in lagging categories (value, SC, international, gold, utilities) since 2010.
Of course, at one point it will change but I have heard and read about it for at least 5-8 years.
Bonds: for several weeks already I posted that for 2024, you can use RPHIX="sub" cash and make about 6%, the next 2 CBLDX, RSIIX can make 7-9%. I'm a trader but I haven't done anything for weeks = smooth charts = 99+% invested.

"I loved that show, but don’t remember that particular one incident. There was one rotating female guest he had on who was, well, hot. Don’t remember her name or what she looks like now."
I loved that show too, watched it every week. I'm thinking it was Liz Ann Sonders. IMHO

Liz Ann is certainly not hard to look at, but I'm thinking it was a brunette. Not sure, the show's been off over 20 years I think, so memory is not so good.

Not sure I understand the ruckus over @Stillers posting above. These boards are all about discussing each of our own investing strategies and I have learned a great deal from each of you. Whether you invest in Mag 7 directly or through funds, one cannot deny that these stocks are critical to the movement of the US market making up nearly 30% of the S&P 500. I value the opportunity to learn how each of you are approaching your strategies on these stocks as well as funds that are heavily invested in them. This makes me a better investor. Going back over the past couple of years, Stillers has made some pretty savvy calls on funds that are tech heavy like FSELX. As I recall he invested in this fund at the end of 2022 when I frankly didn’t have the balls to do so. At any rate I appreciate his contributions.

I am sometimes reminded of something Bill Gates wrote in March of 2023: "The development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone." NVDA's performance today suggests AI's investment story is continuing to unfold and that NVDA remains on its cutting edge. Like @PRESSmUP, I purchased a little AVGO during the dark days of 2020. It is the only semiconductor stock in my portfolio as my individual stock holdings have a dividend focus. I am hopeful that the AI boom is for real and that it will increase the productivity of the economy for the next several years. But, as a 74 year old retiree who is making withdrawals from his portfolio, the MAG-7 stocks included in a few of my OEFs and ETFs coupled with AVGO provides enough of that kind of high growth oomph for my portfolio.

"I'm happy to let my funds hold MAG-7s in controlled quantities. I don't need more of them!" indeed, and they pop up in unexpected places. They are a top holding in Rajiv Jain's international and EM funds for reasons I've yet to hear an explanation.

I trust the

fund managers I’ve hired to make those buy / sell / hold decisions for me! If there are some “babies” being thrown out with the “bathwater” today those managers are grabbing them up. Wait one year. A little over a year ago the hoopla here was all about 5% cash - greatest thing since sliced bread. A mere 18-months ago folks were were crying in their beer over double-digit portfolio losses. And 2-3 years ago the noise was all about I-Bonds!. Give me a break!

I think @PRESSmUP raised an interesting point worth kicking around an investment forum.
Speaking for myself only, I don't trust fund managers that goose their funds with stocks that are unrelated to the category, or the thesis. What's the point of owning an "EM fund" if the returns are driven by stocks from North America and Europe?
You say you don't care. OK by me.
What does that have to do with 5% cash, I-Bonds, or losses?
If you need a break, take one.

@crash
From what I can tell Park is perma bear, perhaps influenced by the dire predictions of the Canadian Housing Market. I only listen to a few things, as I don’t like to spend time on podcasts or Youtube when I can skim written text quicker.
Did you read her book? Does she have any suggestions other than T bills?

Truthfully, it's been a long time since I did much reading on that blog. I thought she was witty, and insightful. Doesn't follow the crowd. Is that what makes her a perma-bear in your eyes? She's not registered to do business in the States, so her opinions and analyses would be DIRECTLY useful only if you're buying Canadian stocks--- even if bought on US exchanges. I still track a bunch. But given my tax situation, I'm keeping my money Stateside, now. Don't want to see chunks of my dividends automatically withheld by foreign governments!
I can't say I've read her book. She is still correct about something she said many years ago: "Canada primarily sells rocks and trees to the world," still. That's the economy's backbone. Natural Resources. Think about the years-long, ongoing de-facing of the Province of Alberta with the oil sands projects, up north, around Ft. McMurray. And the more standard, legacy oil drilling in Alberta. ... WFG is a solid timber choice. The Big Banks are monopolies, in Canada. Bombardier, I think, is working to improve its situation vis-a-vis investors. But now, it's only available in the USA via an "F" share. You have to deal with the Toronto Exchange, I believe. (No, it's OTC. But now that I'm at Schwab, I must steer clear of OTC stuff. That's my understanding--- if I want to avoid FEES.)
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/BDRBF?.tsrc=fin-srch
She strikes me as just sensible. That's what appeals to me.

"I'm happy to let my funds hold MAG-7s in controlled quantities. I don't need more of them!" indeed, and they pop up in unexpected places. They are a top holding in Rajiv Jain's international and EM funds for reasons I've yet to hear an explanation.

I trust the fund managers I’ve hired to make those buy / sell / hold decisions for me! If there are some “babies” being thrown out with the “bathwater” today those managers are grabbing them up. Wait one year. A little over a year ago the hoopla here was all about 5% cash - greatest thing since sliced bread. A mere 18-months ago folks were were crying in their beer over double-digit portfolio losses. And 2-3 years ago the noise was all about I-Bonds!. Give me a break!

I appreciate anyone's reasonable, well thought out views and investing ideas, but I would hope that folks will not assume that other people do not have just as reasonable and well thought out ideas for their own investments, if they do not match your own choices.
A few years ago the general buzz was CDs, bond ladders etc. I don't remember many people telling us to back up the truck for NVDA then, much less posts describing their business model, valuation etc.
I hope that your personal style and choice of investments works for you, @stillers, but I assume many people here would be very uncomfortable 36% tech and 25% Mag 7 ( I know I would)
I sat in MSFT for ten years when it went nowhere. At a P/S ratio of 40 to 60 I believe NVDA will at some point flatten out for a long time, if not crash, just as TSLA and META have done. If you can figure out when this is and get out, good luck! If you are prepared for the consequences of missing that exit, more power to you. Me, I would rather sleep at night!

On the same note, a prominent MFO member recently wrote:
“You have no reason to envy my investments. I have no reason to envy yours. I don’t know how much my brother-in-law’s portfolio made. I don’t care whether I beat the market, I care about whether I have a good life and make a difference in the lives of others. My early modeling said that I needed to earn 6% a year, minimum, to have the resources to do all that. Happily, I’ve gotten there.” (Since most have likely read this, I’ll skip the attribution. part).
To me, investing has been a 50 year long process based on clearly thought out plans which have been revised over and over again thru those years leading now to a great deal of restraint as I approach the “80” milestone. You don’t have to do it that way. But it’s the route I’ve chosen.
I’m a bit more optimistic than the distinguished author cited above claims to be. I suspect that a 7-8% annual return long-term with reasonable drawdowns (no more than 15-20% over 3 year periods) is a doable goal. That would not have been the case 3-5 years ago however. The difference now is in the much higher rate of interest available on bonds and cash.
At this point I’m thinking @stillers may have landed on the wrong forum. A generally “slow-mo” conservative lot here with an occasional shorter visit by those in despair needing support on one hand, and those who believe they have struck gold on the other. But, longer term ISTM a conservative lot. May I suggest any of the following where he might feel more at home?
- Elite Traders
- Stockaholics
- Super Trader Sam
- Traders Labratory
- Investors Hub

All good here, question for @stillers. My perception is that you were an investor during the dot com era...we all know what happened to the tech companies then...lot of momo, hype etc...maybe not a good comparison agreed. But...we do know what a down -70% flush can do to your wealth
How do you see it now, vs 25 years ago?
BTW, props and congrats on being on the right side of these trades so far
Baseball fan

AAII Sentiment Survey, 2/21/24
BULLISH remained the top sentiment (44.3%; above average) & bearish remained the bottom sentiment (26.2%, below average); neutral remained the middle sentiment (29.5%, below average); Bull-Bear Spread was +18.1% (above average). Investor concerns: Elections, budget, inflation, economy, the Fed, dollar, Russia-Ukraine (104+ weeks), Israel-Hamas (19+ weeks), geopolitical. For the Survey week (Th-Wed), stocks were mixed (growth down, cyclicals up), bonds down, oil up, gold up, dollar down. Techs remain strong (NVDA). AMZN replacing WBA in DJIA. Nikkei225 at new high after 34 years! #AAII #Sentiment #Markets
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/post/1362/thread

Nikkei 225 finally is at a new all-time high after 34 years. This is nominal, not inflation-adjusted.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/22/japans-nikkei-hits-all-time-high-on-reforms-robust-corporate-earnings.html
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/^N225

“I don't know what the language of the year 2000 will look like, but I know it will be called Fortran.” —Tony Hoare, winner of the 1980 Turing Award, in 1982.
Scientific computing’s future: Can any coding language top a 1950s behemoth?
https://arstechnica.com/science/2014/05/scientific-computings-future-can-any-coding-language-top-a-1950s-behemoth/
That's from just 10 years ago. You don't have to be old to be familiar with Fortran. You just have to be in the right field of work.

This is what sticks in the back of my mind, but I try my best to ignore it: "The S&P 500 PE Ratio is in the upper 15% of valuations for the past 80 years."