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Where to now St. Peter?

Howdy folks,

Hope everyone has a great new year. That said, how do we make money in the coming year? What strategic and tactical decisions should we make? I will start.

For most of the year I've been running a bit heavy on the equity side but went heavier for Santa back near Black Friday. Nice post the Ides of November picks have been FSDAX and FSRFX. To counter-point, I've been riding pot with AXIM, CRBP and IVITF with the latter looking best and where I've added on the California legalization. If anyone knows of a better way to play the pot market . . . I'm all ears. Other recent play is in the silver junior miners. Hank noted a few weeks back some movement in the price of gold and sure enough, my 2 canaries (SVM and TKRFF) were starting to chirp. Started scaling into a momentum play with KOOYF, ISVLF, ORMNF and TMIAF [note: these are mostly Canadian penny stocks with nosebleed volatility so serious medication is advised]. I took some tax losses on T and will probably buy back playing the court case which I anticipate they will win. Sold my MI muni bond fund FMHTX and just buying dividend stuff like VZ and F. Seems to be a safer place. Otherwise always looking.

and so it goes,

peace,

rono

Comments

  • edited January 2018
    Circling the energy, utility and REIT dumpsters for signs of life. No particular favorites and may just end up with XLE, XLU or VPU and REM. For desert - MJX. Have a good year my friend.

    Just thinking that infrastructure stuff might get a jolt but I'm waiting for congress to start acting like they're supposed to and start moving forward meaningfully. In the meantime maybe you want to look at some alt-energy plays like CAFD (mostly solar) and PEGI (mostly wind). Nice dividends while you watch and wait. Just remember, I'm a dividend growth investor which is what these two provide and I'm invested in both. YMMV.
  • That's the rono I remember!

    Haven't been into pot for 40 years so not sure I know what to do in that space. Used to just role and smoke. Beyond comprehension back then that it could be an investment! Energy I like. The only recent move I've made was to buy VLO (Valero Energy) in October. Done well since and will likely be a hold for quite a while. Miners is not a game I'm good at (nothing more volatile in my book) so won't go there. If I play more, it may be with energy and infrastructure, but only in small bets.

  • edited January 2018
    May sound like a broken record, but I’ve noticed an uptick in gold and most commodity prices past several weeks. Recently increased slightly the upper limit on this stuff in my core holdings. It’s still a relatively small % - but reflects my growing conviction. Wasn’t related just to the price moves. Looks like the inflation numbers are growing hotter - especially in GB and parts of Europe. If you like the commodity theme, PRAFX is probably as good a choice as anything, as it covers all the sectors.

    Re gold - It’s been in a trading range of maybe $1230 to $1375 for at least a year - probably longer. Crossed above $1300 last week on the way up. My gut tells me it will break out of that range on the high side this time around. One observer I read seems to think miners are a good buy at current levels.

    I just plain don’t understand equities at these levels. So no comment on that front.

    Final thought - Anything could happen in U.S. & global politics (including nuc. war) to throw markets into a frenzy. In that case, gold would probably benefit along with government backed bonds (like GNMAs) as scared money runs for shelter. Lose cannon on the deck for sure. Downright scary.
  • Howdy,

    I too have been increasing my energy/commodity exposure over the past year with XOM (where I shop) and PRNEX. I just increased PRNEX.

    One casino play I'm making is with ROKU.

    As for 'black swan' events - geez, pick your poison. I figure if we stay diversified and keep some 'mad money' available to buy a crash, WE should be OK. I can't speak for others about some unknown event.

    and so it goes,

    peace,

    rono
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