Individual Stocks

Over the past year, I dabbled in some individual stocks but eventually got out of them.

At one point over the past year, I owned Manulife, Great West Life, T Rowe Price, and Intel. But have since sold them all. Some were sold at a profit and at least one at a loss. (Intel broke my heart.)

But I still have room in my “ideal weighting” for individual stocks. And I’m currently not utilizing it.

The latest mix is:

• Index Funds – 39% (goal 50%)
• Individual Stocks – 3% (goal 5%)
• High Div ETFs – 15% (goal 25%)
• Bond ETFs – 5% (goal 10%)
• Cash/Money Markets – 37% (goal 15%)

As you can see, I do have a few percentages to spare to add to individual stocks.

My current stock holdings are Pizza Pizza, GALP, Axa, Endesa, Palantir, Schnitzer Steel, Raytheon, VICI, Nutrien, and MP Materials.

Many of those are currently down from their purchase price. During the pandemic, I believed commodities (minerals, food, real estate, and defense) were recession-proof. We still haven’t had a recession. So, I am wondering if I should still hold on to them for the long term.

I said I would sell those stocks, but I haven’t yet. And I haven’t bought the stocks to own for life yet.

So today, I will sell all these “recession-proof” stocks and buy at least a couple of the stocks for life. And plan never to sell them.

With the market open, I closed out my positions in MP Materials, NIO, Nutrien, Raytheon, and VICI. I have some open limit orders on Brookfield Real Assets, Schnitzer Steel, and Sustainable Power and Infrastructure ETF.

Effectively, I am bringing an end to the “Hierarchy of Needs” portfolio. And instead, I’ll start something new.